There's no place like home
by Forest Elfin
Summary: COMP Sequel to AT. As Kelly, Chrissie and Fred fight to save the Fellowship, they must face their demons, both inside and out. DuinShiel has to make a hard choice and the return of an old tormenter rocks the boat.
1. CHAPTER ONE : BEGININGS

CHAPTER ONE - BEGINNINGS  
  
Kelly held onto the horse's bridle literally for her life. She kept thinking the horse was going to break, but it never did. That was Elven horses for you, Kelly thought. She'd been galloping for nearly five hours now, but every time she paused, it seemed as if the band of Elves were there right behind her.  
  
She watched the fast flowing waters move past her and a crazy idea floated into her. She hoped Fred and Chrissie would make their way to Minas Tirith and even dangerously hoped the Elf would go with them, to provide them with some protection.  
  
She was only trusting on instinct that Faramir would even listen to them, let alone help to save the Fellowship that hadn't even set out yet that she herself had condemned. She wasn't sure how he'd react to them and what he'd do if they mentioned her. If she failed in what she was planning to do at Edoras, then they would need all the help they could get, Faramir's or not.  
  
She untied the saddlebags behind her and held onto them tightly. She clenched her teeth, this was really going to hurt.  
  
Kelly spied an overhanging tree branch and as she was galloping past grabbed on to it and swung up into the tree. Her wrist seemed to catch fire and she was pretty sure her shoulder had dislocated as well.  
  
Climbing quickly through the tree branches to the river, she jumped down into the shallows, trying to ignore how her toes started to go numb. Using the saddlebags as buoyancy, she swam quickly across the river and climbed out on the far side.  
  
She began running, knowing that every second was of the essence. She'd seen a floating log only minutes before, stuck in a dam of river weed. If she could somehow free it, maybe she could ride it all the way down stream and possibly outdistance the Elves. She had no chance against four of them at once.  
  
She spotted the log and used her penknife to cut away the obstructions, carefully straddling the log. It took her a few moments to find her balance, but soon she was floating swiftly downriver. If she was lucky, the Elves would follow just the sound of hooves for several miles before they realised there was no rider. If she was lucky.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie rode behind Fred as she'd been doing since early that morning. The sun was high in the sky now, but they'd wanted to try and get there as quick as possible. Duin-Shiel had already told them if the assassins got themselves 'entrenched' at Moria's Gate, it would be damned near impossible for them to get them out and save the Fellowship. Therefore, they needed to get back to Moria before the assassins got there.  
  
The countryside seemed to be all the same to her, walking beside the river through hills and valleys, knolls and gullies. She looked back behind her and saw a dot approaching at high speed down the river. She cocked her head as the dot elongated and grew a head.  
  
She gestured to Fred and they shared a laugh as they realised who the only person in Middle Earth could be that could be surfing down the river. Kelly appeared and gave them a wave.  
  
"I'll SEE YOU LATER!" Kelly shouted as she went past on her log. Since the horses were only walking and she was moving at a speedy rate, she was only in sight of them for a few minutes.  
  
Fred shrugged at Chrissie's confused stare as Kelly disappeared out of sight. Sometimes you couldn't even begin to understand Kelly.  
  
***  
  
"Your time has come."  
  
A boy with lightish hair looked up from his books in the library to see Lady Galadriel's shining presence before him.  
  
"The time for what, Lady Galadriel, if you'll pardon me asking."  
  
She smiled and laid a hand on his head.  
  
"You can no longer remain in Lothlorien. You must leave and go out into the world. But first, come with me."  
  
He looked around worriedly, this place he'd come to think of as home, but followed the Lady Galadriel outside and down the steps. He realised where it was he was going way before he reached it.  
  
"Will you look into the mirror?" Galadriel asked.  
  
He remembered the line from the film, but was not going to go for the cliché. He stepped up to the mirror and stared into it.  
  
"Things that were." Galadriel began.  
  
An image of Kelly fighting a young man with shocking blue eyes and dark hair. She seems to be winning until he catches her across the jaw and he stabs in with a dagger.  
  
Fred lying on the ground, unconscious and battered, surrounded by a thousand spiders. A fire spreads towards her and begins to lick the branches closest to her.  
  
Chrissie is falling into blackness, catching hold of a ledge, but falling again. She lands with a crack and is covered with boulders, only a few fingers remaining out stretched from the soil as the dust begins to settle around her.  
  
"Things that are."  
  
Chrissie and Fred huddle together as the dark figure pushes them back towards the roaring fire. A gust of wind blows the cloak head from the figure to reveal their identity. It is Kelly and she has a look of blood lust in her eyes.  
  
An Elf rolls from a horse and fires an arrow towards Kelly, it flies swift and sure towards her heart.  
  
"Some things that have not yet come to pass."  
  
Chrissie and Fred lie in cell, bound and chained as guards throw crusts of bread at them in distaste. Rats crawl over their immobile forms and Fred's eyes widen as a spider crosses her knee.  
  
The Fellowship runs out of Moria Gate into the sunlight and collapse onto the floor. He recognises it as the moment after Gandalf fell into shadow from the movie. The scene shifts slightly and reveals two figures dressed in black studying a map intently. One places his finger on the exact location of Moria Gate and signals to that man to get there. The man, revealed to be a teenager, nods and leaves, an elaborately decorated golden sword at his belt.  
  
Kelly kneels in front of a circle of Elves, the most recognisable being Galadriel and Celeborn. Kelly's hands are tied behind her back and many Elves stand guard around her, their fingers twitching slightly on their bows. Galadriel delivers some unheard judgement and Kelly's head falls to her chest. The Elves on guard smile with an undisguised joy.  
  
"I know what it is you saw."  
  
But that is all he heard of what she said next, for he fell to the ground as the images all screamed for his attention at once. He tried to sort them back into past, present and future, kept telling himself that Chrissie and Fred weren't in prison and Kelly wasn't in some Elven tribunal. This was going to take a lot of thinking over.  
  
He looked up from the floor to see Lady Galadriel watching him.  
  
"You know what it is you must do. You have seen the things that will happen if you should fail. Anyone can change the course of the future, if they know what they want it to be."  
  
He grimaced at the thought of leaving behind his books and the life he'd made these past few weeks at Lothlorien. But he strengthened his resolve and nodded. He'd never really valued books before he came here, so really it should be no trouble leaving them.  
  
***  
  
As he walked back up the steps, he reflected on all that had befallen him. That day in the biology lab had been strange. He remembered walking into N6 to deliver a message to Mr Brae from his teacher and he remembered seeing Kelly tip something into a solution and then waking up half way up a Mallorn tree.  
  
It had taken the Elves over ten minutes to carefully lift him down from his precarious ledge, but he told Lady Galadriel nearly everything. He had told her this place was in the past and that it's history was well documented in the future. His friends especially were scholars of it, but he himself had only seen the film once and did not know the story of Lord of the Rings that well.  
  
Lady Galadriel had given him a home and work at the library to do. His Elvish was improving from none to a bare amount and he could now recount most of the details of the Last Alliance. He even knew who Gil-Galad was now, Fred's favourite character.  
  
He gathered his possessions into a cloak and tied them to an old saddlebag. Carrying his possessions down to the stables, he tied them onto the back of the horse Lady Galadriel had gifted him soon after his arrival. He held onto the reins and led the horse out of the stable to find most of the Elves living nearby waiting for him.  
  
They smiled at him and said farewell. The ones he'd got to know better hugged him and touched his face in the traditional Elven fashion. He felt like crying, but he had never cried in front of anyone in his entire life and he wasn't about to start now.  
  
He mounted his horse and let it pick it's own pace. After their meeting at the mirror, Lady Galadriel had told him that he should head down river towards Gondor and that his destiny would find him.  
  
***  
  
He rode out of Lothlorien and was nearly on top of a band of Elves before he even realised they were there. He didn't think he'd ever get used to their way of sneaking around.  
  
They were riding like maniacs, but stopped suddenly when they saw him and dismounted. Luckily, they seemed to recognise him.  
  
"Friend, have you seen anyone else riding here?"  
  
He shook his head. He'd barely left and had seen no one.  
  
The Elves hurriedly remounted and made to leave.  
  
"What news have you?" He asked quickly, wondering if there were orcs around if they were so agitated.  
  
"One of them murdered Laneth, messenger of Lady Galadriel. She flees north, but we have found no tracks. Duin-Shiel, messenger of Thranduil rides south with some guests and we saw him only briefly. Ride hard and you may catch up with him."  
  
The Elves rode off north and he wondered exactly who she was. He had heard rumors of the evil ones, but there not that many females he had heard of in that service. Something tugged at his memory, but he dismissed it. Riding south with an Elf sounded far better than riding south alone, so he dug his heels into the horses flanks and the quick spirited mare jumped off into the night.  
  
***  
  
Lady Galadriel stepped back from her mirror and turned to find Lord Celeborn coming down the steps to meet her.  
  
"Does he fare well?" Celeborn asked lightly. He knew that Galadriel had become quite fond of the stranger during his time in Lothlorien.  
  
She did not have to ask who it was he meant.  
  
"He is heading towards Duin-Shiel's group and may meet up with them some time tomorrow if he continues on. Middle Earth's fate lies with that group, no matter what we may think of them."  
  
Lord Celeborn offered his arm to Lady Galadriel and she took one last glance at the glistening waters.  
  
"I wish you well, Mark."  
  
*** 


	2. CHAPTER TWO : MEETINGS

CHAPTER TWO - MEETINGS  
"So Fred, when we get to Minas Tirith, how exactly are we going to talk to Faramir? I mean he's like a prince or something isn't he and he might not even be there."  
  
Fred looked blank. "I'm sure we'll think of something. Perhaps you could provide a distraction whilst I look for him."  
  
"Why do I have to provide the distraction?" Chrissie said, tapping her foot.  
  
"Well I can't really see you using your massive amount of tact and subtly to try and persuade Faramir. You'd probably give him a good slap if he tried to refuse. Anyway I'm the English student, so I'll handle the persuading."  
  
Chrissie frowned, but realised the truth in what Fred was saying. She never had been one for diplomacy.  
  
***  
  
They walked quietly that day, everyone anticipating their coming ordeal in Minas Tirith and savouring the silence as it lasted. Fred couldn't help but wonder that in every minute they rode south, they were heading a minute further away from Frodo and where they needed to be. Where they could help him and save him.  
  
She understood they had to have help, but she still hadn't worked out exactly how they could gain help from Faramir without arousing his suspicions or changing the future. From what she'd read Faramir was a kind and gentle person but from Kelly's account, he was irrational, annoying and liked to stereotype.  
  
The thing was, she didn't know how the situation had been left. On one hand, mentioning Kelly could give her validity, but if they'd parted on bad terms, she could be thrown instantly in jail.  
  
Fred was so deep in thought, that she didn't realise Chrissie had been chattering away to her for the last half hour. Apparently Chrissie had been talking about camping that night, since there didn't seem to be any cover for miles around.  
  
***  
  
Duin-Shiel let his horse walk slightly ahead of the girls so they could have their conversations in privacy and anyway, he had a lot to think about.  
  
When he'd told Chrissie he had a few weeks before he met Thranduil, technically he had exaggerated. The further south they went, the longer it would take to return to Rivendell. Thranduil had told Duin-Shiel there had been a council held and one moon after that council would mark the choosing of the Elves.  
  
Thranduil had talked long with Duin-Shiel about the choosing and it was clear that Thranduil did not wish to remain in Middle Earth much longer and that he wished for Duin-Shiel to accompany him. At the time of their talking, Duin-Shiel had had nothing to hold him in Middle Earth.  
  
But now.it was so complicated. Sometimes it seemed he and Chrissie were the only people in the world, yet sometimes she seemed almost to ignore him. It reminded him of Aragorn's situation with Arwen and he wondered where he and Chrissie would end up.  
  
He knew she wanted nothing more than to return home to the future and although he'd thought about going with her, from what she'd told him of it, it seemed a hostile and terrible environment. Faced with a choice between that and eternal life in the Undying Lands, at first glance the choice would seem easy. But then again, Chrissie would be in the future.  
  
Did she really mean that much to him, he asked himself time and time again, yet not once could he pinpoint what exactly their relationship was. He was sure they were more than friends, yet they were not lovers. He didn't understand and her ignorance of it confused him.  
  
To reach Rivendell at the time he'd agreed with Thranduil, he'd have to start back in three day's time, accepting the fact that he was making his trip back longer with every step he took.  
  
***  
  
When they settled down into camp, a deep gully he had chosen for shelter from the wind, Chrissie and Fred were still talking. They never looked up at him or even acknowledged he was there. He wondered if this was the answer to all his problems.  
  
He'd just nodded off into oblivion when he heard the sharp snap of a twig. He was instantly up and moving towards it, silent as a cat. He saw the outline of a figure in the moonlight and preyed it wasn't any of Kelly's *friends*.  
  
Yet the figure seemed nervous, twitching in the cold and rubbing his hands together. Any respectable assassin would have at least one weapon out, but this person had none. In one swift motion he grabbed the figure by the throat and knocked him to the ground.  
  
He heard a scream behind him and was surprised to see Fred creeping on cat's paws behind him.  
  
"Mark?" She whispered.  
  
***  
  
Realising Fred knew this person, he released his grip and stepped back. When Fred hugged him, he smiled at their reunion, but when Chrissie hugged him, he scowled and took another step back. He made some quiet excuse about checking the perimeter and took long strides out into the night. Into the dark where no one could see the pained expression on his face.  
  
He kept saying to himself, if he didn't love her, why was he feeling this way when all she did was hug someone? Why was he being torn up when he thought of all the things they could be doing right now or could have done in the past? What if he was her boyfriend from back home and he himself was just something to tide her over?  
  
Duin-Shiel stopped right there and scolded himself. Chrissie wasn't like that, he knew that for certain.  
  
***  
  
"Mark! It's really you, what are you doing here? Oh my God!"  
  
Chrissie and Fred were kind of jumping around and clapping, but when they finally all calmed down, they ended up cuddled in their cloaks together. They had all grown up together and it was great to meet someone else from home.  
  
Mark was shocked to hear of Kelly and their previous misadventures, but told them of his visions in the mirror of Galadriel. Fred was shaken by the images of the spider, but they were all shaken by the vision of the Fellowship. Mark knew they were holding something back about that.  
  
"Of course, that second vision will never come to pass. I mean, no one bar us knows that where the Fellowship will be, so how could anyone possibly plan an attack on them?"  
  
Chrissie and Fred looked at each other and frowned.  
  
"Well that's not completely true. Kelly knew.and she kind of got persuaded to mention a few things about the Fellowship and their journey." Fred said slowly, trying not to upset Mark only hours after their reunion.  
  
"What do you mean a few facts? How much did she tell whoever it was she told?" Mark asked, his voice rising a little.  
  
"Uhh, pretty much everything from what we can gather."  
  
Mark put his head in his hands. A month ago, he would have laughed at this kind of situation. Even two weeks ago, he would have said that this was only a fantasy world and didn't even exist. It had taken nearly a week of being in this place for him to accept it as real.  
  
Now he cared about what happened to it, cared about the Elves back in Lothlorien, cared about their fate. Although it was unbelievable that Kelly would put Middle Earth at risk, he couldn't see any reason why Chrissie and Fred would lie to him.  
  
***  
  
They set off early the next morning, trying to make all haste towards Minas Tirith. Although Fred seemed to get edgier by the minute in anticipation of her confrontation with Faramir, Chrissie seemed happy enough with Duin- Shiel riding beside her. Mark was lost in a world of his own.  
  
They rode over ridges and hill, valleys and streams for that day and the next, happy that nothing was trying to kill them for once. When they sighted the Golden Hall of Edoras, after a brief stare of awe they turned east. They stayed close to the mountains, hoping that no orcs would venture this near to the realm of goblins.  
  
Duin-Shiel had said there was always something foul to be found in the mountains, yet would not say anything more. Every time they camped, it was at least a mile from the base.  
  
***  
  
On their second camp since seeing Edoras, Duin-Shiel sat out alone on watch. So far they had not bothered to set any kind of guard, trusting fate to be kind to them after all the troubles they'd been through so far. He could well have joined the others in sleep, but his stomach was full of butterflies and denied him any rest. Tomorrow he would have to turn back north to Rivendell and he still had not mentioned it to Chrissie.  
  
He thought about it day and night, turning over the arguments in his mind, trying to see some kind of solution to his problem. Yet always the answer eluded him, however straight forward the problem was. He was Elven kind and she human. He could cross to the Undying Lands with his people in a few weeks time and spend the rest of all time wondering how she had fared, wondering whether she had made it home or not.  
  
Or he could tempt fate, remain here in Middle Earth; with her. Yet he knew that her priority was still to go home and that he could not go with her, so whichever way he chose he would always end up alone.  
  
Morning came without him noticing and Chrissie with it.  
  
"Are you alright?" She asked timidly, not wanting to disturb him.  
  
He took in a deep breath. "I'm just clearing my head before I leave." He stood up and turned to face her. "I have to return to Rivendell, return to Thranduil. Once I am reunited with my people, we are making our one last trip in this world together. To the Grey Havens."  
  
Chrissie stood in shock, barely able to breathe let alone speak.  
  
Duin-Shiel willed her to say anything, give him a reason to stay, but she breathed not a word.  
  
Chrissie's mind whirred. She understood what he was saying and despite whatever he might have thought, she had been thinking on it too. If she kept him here, where she herself would be leaving soon anyway, he would be alone.  
  
Drawing in a deep breath, she did the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She told him to go and be happy, wishing him good luck on his journey. She turned back to her horse and mounted. She even ignored the startled faces of Fred and Mark as she started riding east. Eventually she heard the sound of hooves following, but there were only two pairs.  
  
***  
  
Duin-Shiel stood in that clearing, tears clouding his eyes. Trying to force a smile from under his shock lined face, he readied his horse. If she wanted him to go to the Grey Havens, then that was where he would go.  
  
However much it hurt. 


	3. CHAPTER THREE : ARRIVAL

CHAPTER THREE - ARRIVAL  
Although Chrissie was still reeling from the emotional blow of sending away Duin-Shiel, she tried to hide it as best she could from the others. Although she guessed Fred knew exactly what had happened from her sympathetic glances, Mark seemed none the wiser. It was probably just as well, as soon as they met up with Kelly again, they probably would have killed each other anyway.  
  
When they camped that night, she couldn't help thinking that he would just walk in any minute, say that he'd seen fresh prints on the path, or even just see his silent silhouette as he sat and thought on the other side of camp.  
  
By the end of that night, she could barely remember why she'd sent him away and wished desperately she could live that hour again.  
  
***  
  
Kelly stood outside Edoras, under that same tree where she'd tried to mug Ordon. Last time she was here she had been so free of responsibility, unburdened and although desperate, happy. Now she was tied down with work and here in Edoras, that work would not be the kind fondly remembered.  
  
She'd thought much whilst floating down the river. It had only been nine days since she'd spoken to Ordon and the Old Man, so with any luck he may not have told many people. All she had to do was do what she had been trained to do. Eliminate those who knew and her troubles would be over.  
  
Yet it vexed her. Since remembering that she wasn't a psychotic killer bent on killing everyone in sight, the thought of killing someone in cold blood seemed wrong. She wouldn't have hesitated in battle, but doing it cold and not giving them a chance could prove a problem. She didn't want to prove the Old Man right by becoming a natural killer, but circumstances seemed to conspire against her.  
  
Shaking herself slightly, she started off towards the gates. If she was going to do it, it would have to be after dark, since no one in their right mind would let anyone in through the gates wearing what she was. Karth and her had worn ordinary cloaks, but now she had nothing more than her assassin's clothes and landing up in jail again was not in her plan of action.  
  
***  
  
Moments after midnight, she scooted along the ground towards the nearest gate and lightly knocked on one of the guard's doors. A sleepy looking man poked his head out.  
  
"I'm not letting the gate open for no one."  
  
Kelly grabbed him by the throat, letting the leather hiding her tattoo loosen somewhat. His eyes widened as he recognised it.  
  
"Open the gates two twists and no more. I will be back within the hour and expect to find it open still when I return. Cause me no trouble and you may live to see the sun rise." She hissed out.  
  
The guard stood still looking at her for a full minute after she let him go, but obediently went and opened the gate a crack for her. Once in, she kept to the shadows.  
  
Finding Ordon's cottage again was easy, slipping in through the window slightly more difficult, but not impossible. By the look of it, Ordon and the Old Man were smoking by the fire. How convenient.  
  
Creeping in, she knocked Ordon over the head, watching him slump forwards. The Old Man was instantly on his feet, quicker than she would have thought for someone who looked like he did.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here? You should be in Moria by now."  
  
Kelly smiled. "Things have changed."  
  
The Old Man drew a sword from the inside of his walking stick. Kelly smiled again, impressed. It was very slick. She drew her own.  
  
"Do you know what happens to those who turn against us, Kelly? I wouldn't want that to happen to you. No, you're different than the others. But you belong with us, where people accept you."  
  
"Cut the crap, old man, it's not going to work a second time. Who knows about the Fellowship?"  
  
The Old Man took a step forwards, seeming to threaten her with his sword. Kelly took a step towards him and in one flick of her sword knocked his sword from his hands. Karth had taught her that.  
  
"I'm getting bored, Old Man. Now answer!" She said, resting the blade against his neck.  
  
"You wouldn't do that to an old man, now would you? I'm defenceless and unarmed."  
  
"Don't try me. Tell me the names and locations of those who know or I'll cut your heart out for what you've done to me." Kelly let her voice rise in anger and let a slight tinge of madness fill her eyes.  
  
The Old Man started to say that she wouldn't do it, but when she drew her dagger from her boot and held it pressed against his heart with the other hand, he started to sweat.  
  
"The letters haven't left yet. Only Ordon and I knew, messengers were to be sent with the new moon." He whispered out.  
  
Kelly twisted the sword, tracing a thin line of blood on his neck.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Well, there was only one other. Canetha in Minas Tirith. He came here with other news only yesterday and Ordon blabbed with his big mouth about it."  
  
The Old Man studied her face and caught the slight hesitation as she lifted her sword towards his head.  
  
"If you kill me, Kelly, you'll prove me right. I told you that you were a born killer and by killing an unarmed old man, you'll have crossed the line. You'll truly be one of us."  
  
"I will never be one of you." She spat out the words. "I may wear the tattoo and masquerade with it sometimes, but I am not rotten to the core like you."  
  
"Ahh, but you already are. I can feel in the way you stand that you have already killed and by the smudges of dried blood under your eyes, I will guess you already have a blood oath to complete. What will you do then?"  
  
"That killing was accidental, but I will kill the Elf, in a fair and even fight." Kelly's resolve was starting to weaken.  
  
"No killing is accidental Kelly, but I understand. Just let me down and we can talk about this. I'm sure everything will be fine."  
  
Kelly started to let him down from her grip and backed away a few metres.  
  
"It is alright to be a killer, Kelly. You should never stop doing what you do best." As twin daggers appeared in his hands mid sentence, Kelly cursed herself again for being so damned gullible. No longer having any hesitation, she hit him over the head with the back of her sword. Curse him and his foul tongue.  
  
"I'm sorry Old Man, but you would have done the same."  
  
Checking they were both still unconscious, she stoked up the small fire under the chimney, then used broken chair legs to start a blaze around the room. Soon the whole cottage was an inferno, being that the whole thing was made of wood.  
  
On the way out she noticed a shining purple light coming from the other room. Covering her mouth with a sleeve, she ran to see what it was. A palantir lay in the centre of a table. On impulse, Kelly wrapped it in the cloth on the table and put it in the bottom of a sack. She couldn't risk leaving it here for just anyone.  
  
Kelly burst out of the window and ran back through the night, pleased to see the guard had left the gate open for her. No doubt he would tell of her entering at dawn for the right price, so she had better make haste. Since that same guard's horse was tethered near by, she un-knotted the reins and jumped up.  
  
She figured he owed it to her anyway.  
  
***  
  
Kelly rode until the horse could no longer run, then looked back west to Edoras. A bright blaze of flame licked at the sky and by the look of it several other houses had caught fire from the blaze as well.  
  
Trying to put the images of Ordon and the Old Man burning alive out of her head, as well as the thought there could be innocent people burned as well, she looked eastwards towards Minas Tirith. It was still at least another four days ride to Minas Tirith and she needed to get there as soon as possible to dispose of this 'Canetha', before he or she told anyone else.  
  
The palantir weighed heavily on her mind, nagging and baiting her to use it. If she could control it, she could see where this Canetha was and check on Chrissie and Fred. It could give her so much peace of mind.  
  
Jerking her hand away from the bag, she steeled her resolve. The only person she could safely leave this with would either be Elven or Istari, and neither were in the vicinity. Until then, it would be her burden to carry.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie and Fred pulled their cloaks close as they wandered through the gates. Mark did the same, although less hurriedly than the others. He had not yet experienced danger as the other two had and had no reason to fear.  
  
They had decided the night before that Fred would try and sneak into the palace and find Faramir, then use the enormous amount of persuasion she had to convince him to her will. Chrissie would try and seduce a guard away from the door so Fred could get in. Mark had been elected to remain with the horses.  
  
Mark hadn't been happy about remaining behind, but then again there wasn't actually anything else he could do. He wished them luck as they walked up towards the palace, and hoped that they would be back soon.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie looked around the corner at the guard stood in front of the palace. He didn't look particularly bright, which she supposed was a good thing. There was also a weapons shed stood only metres away. She nodded at Fred and stepped out from the shadows.  
  
Her hands were shaking as she caught the guard looking at her, so she put them behind her back.  
  
"Are you lost miss?" The guard said politely.  
  
Chrissie tried to look innocent. "Not anymore." She whispered as she placed her hand on his chest and ran it up to his neck.  
  
Although the guard seemed initially shocked, he soon understood what she was saying.  
  
"No one has visited the Stewards all week and I doubt anything would happen in an hour." He smiled and followed her eyes to the shed.  
  
Chrissie feigned a smile, trying not to choke on the strong smell of beer on his breath. "I'm sure it won't." She murmured, as she sauntered towards the shed.  
  
***  
  
Fred watched the scene from the shadows; partly amazed that Chrissie had pulled it off and partly worried for her friend's safety. Hoping for the best, she quickly ran across the courtyard and slipped in through the door.  
  
Looking around inside, there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. She heard some guards coming and hid behind the curtain, no matter how clichéd that hiding place may be.  
  
She counted to fifty after they'd left and started to turn right when something caught her eye. A dagger incrusted with a dozen rare gemstones lay unattended on the table. Fred tried to turn herself away, but she couldn't see to stop staring at it. No one would notice it's disappearance she told herself, and if she sold that, they could feed and clothe themselves for months.  
  
She reached forwards to the dagger and was surprised how light and natural it felt in her hands. Tucking it into her belt, she darted down the corridor, but unfortunately due to her sudden rise in self-confidence, not quite listening for danger as well as she could have. She ran straight into the belly of the Master of Arms.  
  
He looked her up and down once, then grabbed her around the waist and dragged her kicking and screaming to the dungeon. He took back the dagger from her and slammed the door.  
  
"Thieves lose their hands you know." He whispered through the door.  
  
Fred sat in the middle of the floor and hoped Chrissie had fared better.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie stood facing the guard as he unbuttoned his sword belt. Taking a deep breath, she kneed him as hard as she could in the balls and turned to the door, hoping Fred was already inside.  
  
The guard grabbed her shirt and hit her hard across the face, sending her flying back against the wall. She hit her head and blacked out. The guard slung her over his shoulder and walked rather stiffly back towards the doors to the palace.  
  
"You are lucky, miss, that I am a gentleman." He mumbled to her unconscious form.  
  
He passed the Master of Arms as he returned from the dungeon. He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Obviously it is a popular day for criminals." He commented as he accepted the unconscious form and walked back down to the dungeon. He opened the door and flung her in the same cell as the other prisoner. Perhaps they were working together and if they weren't, perhaps they would kill each other and save him the trouble.  
  
He grumbled as he returned back up the stairs and soon ended up in the local tavern down the road. 


	4. CHAPTER FOUR : POLITICS

CHAPTER FOUR - POLITICS  
"Chrissie, for God's sake wake up. Someone's coming." Chrissie opened her eyes slowly and tried to turn her head to look around. It felt like she had something driven through her head and as she tried to move, little Elijahs ran in front of her eyes. Squinting closer, they disappeared.  
  
Chrissie managed to drag herself back against the wall, but standing up was really out of the question. The door creaked open, revealing what looked like David Wenham, only more creepy and mean looking in a Grima Wormtongue kinda way.  
  
"What are you doing here? Why would you think that you could steal from the Stewards of Gondor?"  
  
Fred's eyes widened. She hadn't meant to steal the dagger, it had just happened. Perhaps she had been hanging around with Kelly too much.  
  
"We actually came to talk to you about.your brother." Fred said impulsively. She had almost said the Fellowship, but since he wouldn't know what that was, it was pointless.  
  
Faramir raised an eyebrow. "What do you know of my brother?"  
  
Fred thought quickly. "We were sent by.Lady Galadriel to summon help from Gondor. Boromir will leave on a quest in little over a moon, but he does not know the danger waiting for him. He will die if you do not help him."  
  
Faramir's eyes widened.  
  
"Tell me what you know and I will go to him."  
  
Fred tried to shrink back. "Well that's the problem, you can't go."  
  
"WHAT? You just told me my brother's going to die and now you say I can't go?" Faramir fumed for a few moments, waiting for them to say something. No one did.  
  
"Maybe a few days in this cell will soften up your tongue." He yelled behind him as he stormed out.  
  
Chrissie looked up, still half in a daze. "Did we win?"  
  
Fred smiled at Chrissie's ignorance. No doubt Chrissie would be wrathful at the mess Fred had gotten them into when she regained some comprehension of the world around her, but for now she would indulge her.  
  
"Yes, Chrissie. We won." Chrissie smiled slightly and went back to the world where little Elijahs ran around in circles.  
  
***  
  
Fred stared at the bowl in front of her. It looked like a mix between runny eggs and lumpy porridge. And it was stone cold with bits of dirt in it. Chrissie looked in horror at her own.  
  
Chrissie dipped a finger into it and closing her eyes, licked the tiniest bit. She spat it out across the room.  
  
"Tastes like salt water."  
  
Fred grimaced and tried a bit of her own. Unfortunately, it was the same. Trying to dismiss their growling stomachs, they pushed the bowls as far away from them as possible.  
  
"So what are we going to tell Faramir when he comes back?" Chrissie said lightly. She had not been happy about Fred blurting out things about Boromir. Everyone knew that was his touchy subject.  
  
"Dunno. I don't think he's going to help us though." Fred answered glumly. Over the last few hours she'd been constantly rubbing her hands, as if savouring what they felt like.  
  
"Do you think Mark is alright?" Chrissie asked slowly.  
  
"Chrissie, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet. I'm sure Mark can look after himself and a couple of horses." Fred said, sounding a lot calmer than she felt.  
  
Chrissie sighed and looked up to the high window. The sun was fading fast.  
  
"I suppose we should try and get some rest." She said absently, only half hearing what she said.  
  
"Yeah." Fred answered, her mind on the inevitability of Faramir returning tomorrow. What if he began torturing them or something? She liked her hands.  
  
***  
  
Kelly sneaked in through the gates of Minas Tirith and made towards the nearest tavern. After four days of hard riding, she was in no mood to sleep outdoors. And she could use a drink anyway.  
  
Checking what small change she had, she organised a bed in one of the haylofts above a stable and laid out her cloak. There hadn't been much money lying around in Ordon's house, but there was no point in just leaving it there if she could make use of it.  
  
She walked casually downstairs and asked for some stew. She wasn't expecting a great deal of quality, and would have given everything she owned for a steaming hot pizza and chips. But alas, all she ended up with was some thick brown sludge and a chunk of bread. She eyed the ale suspiciously, but downed it anyway, despite the various lumps floating in it.  
  
Kelly was just thinking on the best way to approach the sect in this town to find the one called 'Canetha' when someone's voice rose above the rest.  
  
"And she's so confidant from sneaking around like a common thief in the front room, that she runs smack into me."  
  
The room erupted in drunken laughter, but Kelly leaned forward slightly.  
  
"And then not a moment later, Gan comes out with a lass slung over his shoulder and I have to take her down there as well! Imagine that, two thieves in one day. The next day when I and Captain Faramir went down to question them, they almost wet themselves from the sight of my sword."  
  
The large man began talking about some other woman he'd laid the other night. Kelly stopped eating and tried to think. Two girls trying to infiltrate the Steward's home in one day? Even two girls doing anything naughty was almost unheard of, and she should know. Therefore, there was no doubt in her mind as to who these girls were.  
  
Chrissie and Fred were being held in the Steward's home.  
  
She put her head in her hands. This was a complication she didn't need. Pushing the rest of the broth aside, she walked quickly out of the bar. She turned right and followed the line of houses until she came to what looked like a small broken cellar window. But Kelly knew better. This was the door to the sect of Minas Tirith.  
  
***  
  
Kelly knew almost as soon as she hit the floor that eyes were watching her. The hairs on the back of her neck bristled and she thought for a moment she'd made the wrong decision.  
  
"What do you want?" A voice echoed from the darkness.  
  
Kelly squinted and saw the vague outline of the speaker.  
  
"You can call off your friends trying to get themselves behind me, I mean you no harm. I am here.to ask for aid."  
  
"What right have you to ask us of aid?" The voice answered.  
  
Kelly untied the leather strip from her wrist and slowly revealed it to anybody who might be watching from the shadows.  
  
The figure from the shadows stepped forward to reveal a middle-aged man with fiery red hair. "You are welcome here sister. Now come and let us eat, and hear of your call for aid."  
  
Kelly shivered mentally as he put his arm around her shoulder to lead her further into the bowels of Minas Tirith. She tried to look outwardly calm, but she was a ball of nerves inside. What if they found out that she not only no longer served Ordon, but had also killed him?  
  
She'd had many dreams about that night, most of them ending in her burning in that fire as well. She wondered if it was to do with the palantir she carried, or whether it was just her sub-conscious playing tricks on her.  
  
Kelly sat down with the others and prepared to fabricate some ball of lies to get them to help rescue Chrissie and Fred, and perhaps in the process reveal the identity of Canetha. She told them two girls had been captured, that they had not yet been initiated, but Ordon had deemed them special in some way and irreplaceable. They were essential to the fate of Middle Earth and therefore, she had been sent here to work out their release.  
  
The others around her sat and listened quietly, not really in decision about whether they should risk themselves for two uninitiated girls. They all knew how touchy Faramir could be and they told her so.  
  
"Kelly, we have prior orders from Ordon. We are to start north in eight days time, so we cannot risk capture this close to our departure. Canetha told us that this mission we go on is more important that any other."  
  
The man with fiery hair, who she now knew as Lee, laid his hand over hers.  
  
"I am quite sure you are capable of freeing them yourself if it is that important. From what the tales say, you were quite a fireball even before you were initiated. If you meet resistance before we leave, send word to us and we will aid you in any way we can."  
  
"Who is this 'Canetha?" She asked, hoping she didn't seem too eager.  
  
"The leader of our sect. He is young, but wise in our ways. He will meet up with us at Cair Andras to give us the details of our mission. You are welcome to accompany us if you wish."  
  
Kelly stood up as everyone else at the table did as well. It was obvious she would find no help here. She turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I will talk with Faramir, then I think that I will meet you there." She added.  
  
Lee smiled.  
  
"Kelly, you are well known in these parts. Many of the guards are still after your blood and many others suspect you are one of us. It would not do for them to capture you before you talked with Faramir." They shared a glance and Kelly smiled. It was time for a bit of camouflage.  
  
***  
  
Kelly flew through the corridors of the palace in a whirlwind of fury. None of the guards had challenged her, well one had but he was now dreaming. She'd slept only a few hours the previous night, and it had made her extremely irritable. After hiding the palantir in one of the stables at dawn, she'd come straight to the Steward's house. She turned the corner, remembering the layout roughly from her previous time there.  
  
She was almost glad she'd heard somewhat of her friend's treatment from some of the guard's causal conversation, as it let her become furious once again, and with it came the thrill of the adrenaline rush.  
  
She kicked open the door to Faramir's private study and smiled at the sound of a lock clanging to the floor. Faramir looked up, slightly startled, but upon seeing her automatically reached for his sword belt.  
  
"Don't even think about it, pal."  
  
Kelly grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against the wall, instantly having a dagger in her other hand.  
  
"What have you done with them? Tell me now!" Kelly was mad now and his hesitation only fuelled her anger.  
  
"Who the hell are you? Oh it's you! They're in the dungeon. My guards will have heard the racket and will be closing in. You should let me go." He eyed her suspiciously, wondering how and why she'd changed her hair colour and appearance.  
  
He gave her a cocky smile and she backhanded him across the jaw. Almost growling, she threw him against the far wall and reached for her own sword.  
  
"Your guards are enjoying a little nap." Kelly smiled at his irritation.  
  
Faramir leapt up, obviously drawing on years of training and grabbed his sword from the floor.  
  
"If you leave now and bother no one else, I will forget about this little 'episode.'" He said, smiling smugly, obviously believing himself to have the upper hand. He remembered the crazy little girl who wanted to be a solider; a lot had changed since then.  
  
Kelly raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm threatened by that little knife? I don't think so some how. I'll tell you what, I've heard all about your gambling habits, so let's have a little bet. We'll have a little sword fight out in the yard. If I win, you let us all go. If you win, well I wouldn't count on that, but I will tell you anything you want to know. I may even indulge you in finishing our conversation about your brother." She smiled innocently, hoping he would buy it.  
  
Faramir raised an eyebrow. "Anything? How do I know you have anything useful?"  
  
"Well let's just say I could tell you about that place you call the 'Forbidden Pool' in Ithilien and list all your commanders, and how you always try to get your father to notice you above his prodigal son, Boromir. I could give you a heads up on where to expect orcs if you're interested."  
  
Faramir seemed to consider it. "How do you know about that?"  
  
Kelly took a sarcastic bow. "Tricks of the trade, Captain Faramir. So are we agreed or not?"  
  
Faramir nodded reluctantly, not wanting to be beaten by a girl.  
  
"Fine, I'll see you out in the yard at noon. Bring the girls." When Faramir seemed to be about to argue about her choice of location, she silenced him with a wave of her hand.  
  
"Are you afraid to let your guards see you being beaten by a girl? I think you'll win, Captain Faramir; do you remember how unskilled I was last time you saw me fight?" Kelly said in her most sweet and innocent voice.  
  
***  
  
Faramir stalked down the stairs to the basement and ordered the guards to bring the prisoners up to the courtyard. He also had the Master of Arms draw out a combat grid, although he personally had no worries about fighting her.  
  
She was a pathetic excuse for a combat partner, he would hold to his agreement for the honour of the thing, even when she begged for him to yield. He never had been able to turn down a bet.  
  
***  
  
lil kawaii doom: Sorry for the delay, hope you like it!  
  
Chrissie: Well I had to get Mark in somehow and although I kinda doubted he'd enjoy being an errand boy, I did it anyway. Perhaps Mr Evans threatened him sexually or something.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: You definitely should be shaking, there are bad things to come.  
  
Chrissie: Well I suppose that's a good thing, but don't worry, you never sound stupid.  
  
Tbiris: Well you have to have sad bits in order for the happy bits to be appreciated. Mark was the fourth person to be transported and as you've probably read by now, he was lucky enough to spend his time in Lothlorien.  
  
Hannah: Well I could tell you it gets better, but that would be a lie. But I can tell you that after all their work is done, they are happy.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: Well she's very impulsive so she might just go running off someplace. You are so much better at tact and negotiation than Chrissie. You're an English student.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: I know, well he'll come to his sense sooner or later. Men!  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Well I could give you cryptic hints as to what comes next, but would you really want that? And how do Chrissie and Fred usually get out of trouble? Think obvious here.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: We have talked about your dagger, Fred and I thought you'd understand my reasons for changing it. Never mind. Chrissie was pathetic as a seductress, but maybe she was thinking of Duin-Shiel at the time?  
  
Chrissie: You just love the fact you got to kick some ass don't you? Well, Fred is rather attracted by shiny jewels, rather like a magpie really.  
  
Tbiris: Well technically Fred did break in and steal the dagger, even though she wasn't planning on doing it. Chrissie just kinda got put in as an accomplice. Kelly is on the side of the good and righteous you'll be glad to know, although she still ends up having to do the dirty work as usual. She may be on the 'good' side now, but she can't change what she is. More to come on that, so don't worry too much if you're confused. ( 


	5. CHAPTER FIVE : GAMBLING

CHAPTER FIVE - GAMBLING  
Chrissie gave the guard that pulled her sharply to her feet a frown.  
  
"What's going on? Where are we going?" Chrissie demanded.  
  
The guard looked up as he unbuckled Fred's chains. They'd only put them on her soon after the last questioning yesterday, but already they were chafing.  
  
"Captain Faramir has ordered you to be brought to the courtyard. Apparently you're to be the prize for some fight or something."  
  
Chrissie fumed. "I am not a prize to be won!"  
  
The guard threatened to hit her across the face. "You are whatever Captain Faramir deems you are. Now come along quietly or I will see the Master of Arms doesn't treat you so lightly next time."  
  
Chrissie winced and felt Fred wince as well. That had not been a pleasant experience.  
  
***  
  
Kelly stood on the far edge of the combat square, on the surface calm; but inside she was roiling with nerves. Why couldn't she just be diplomatic and organise their release, she wondered? Hell, even stealthily breaking in and rescuing them would be smarter than to challenge the Captain of the Watch to a swordfight.  
  
It was true she'd heard much about him from the local gossip, mostly about his gambling habits, but a few had mentioned admirably his skills in battle. Kelly had conveniently forgotten them when she'd stormed in.  
  
She strapped Karth's dagger around her ankle and twisted her sword in her hand. She'd kept Karth's dagger as a memento of him and somewhat as a good luck charm. If she remembered correctly, they were the only weapons she was allowed.  
  
The Master of Arms strolled into the courtyard, at least six foot three and built like a brick wall. She was glad she wasn't fighting him, especially as he seemed sober now. He looked her up and down, seeming to appraise her skill just with that glance. He shook his head and headed over to the sidelines. Kelly was feeling worse by the minute.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie and Fred were almost hyper-active by the time they reached the courtyard. Although they'd been annoyed at first, when Fred had wondered out loud if perhaps Duin-Shiel had come back to fight for their freedom, Chrissie had been instantly excited.  
  
As they looked through the door at the slim figure with jet-black hair nervously shining a blade, they realised instantly it was not Duin-Shiel.  
  
"Is that Kelly? Cos' if that is we're in big trouble." Chrissie said, completely not impressed.  
  
"But Kelly has brown hair and even I can see that person has black hair." Fred whispered, squinting in the sunlight.  
  
"Yeah, but look at that blade and the dagger in her boot. They look suspiciously like the ones she got from that person Duin-Shiel killed."  
  
Chrissie and Fred looked at each other as they came to a unanimous decision. Kelly was fighting for their freedom and they were in big trouble.  
  
***  
  
Kelly tried to stand calmly as the Master of Arms seemed to take forever clarifying the rules of combat. She raised her sword as Faramir did the same, but she couldn't help but see her blade shaking slightly.  
  
She watched Faramir grin slightly. She raised an eyebrow. If that was what he thought of her, why change it?  
  
As soon as the Master of Arms shouted for the start, Faramir dove straight in and Kelly deliberately slowed herself so she barely missed it. She wanted him to think she was an easy fight. That was the mistake Karth had made the first time they'd fought and it could be easily made again.  
  
As she relaxed into the rhythm of battle, she let herself speed up a little, throwing a few off-balancing strikes to confuse him. His eyes flicked up to hers and she knew in that moment they'd only been dancing around each other, neither letting themselves go completely. That was about to change.  
  
He twisted and sliced towards her face, much faster than she would have imagined he could have. She blocked just in the nick of time with the leather band on her wrist. She checked out the slice down her wrist as he backed off for a minute, circling her, almost daring her to come at him. If he hit her wrist again, the band could come off.and then there would be serious trouble.  
  
***  
  
Kelly watched him taunting her, making subtle swings of his blade. She tried to work herself into a fury, it was so much easier for her to fight when she wasn't thinking. This man had kept her in prison for over a week, the thing that she hated the most. He had laughed at her and ridiculed her, been a generally sexist pig towards her and now he was holding her friends captive. There was no knowing what he might have done to them already.  
  
Kelly felt the familiar warmth of fury seeping through her bones, felt her hands steadying as adrenaline flooded her body. She smiled that hungry smile, the smile a predator gave it's prey before the chase.  
  
Somewhere outside herself, she heard Chrissie and Fred gasp. They had seen that smile once before; when she had come after them.  
  
Kelly rushed at Faramir, slicing back and forth in a frenzy, cutting high, cutting low and not even stopping to parry. Faramir didn't seem to have to worry about attacking; it was all he could do to hold her off.  
  
She cut in hard to the left, and hit him hard with right hand across the face. Still reeling in surprise, he hardly put any resistance when she slammed her hilt into this hand, making him drop his sword.  
  
She grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed her knee into his nose, then threw him behind her, back into the centre of the ring. He looked up from the ground to her, eyes white with fear, but slowly succumbing to a fury not unlike her own. She had hit his pride now.  
  
***  
  
"Chrissie, oh my God! She's going to kill him!" Fred squealed from the side lines.  
  
Chrissie looked around. "Like that's so bad?"  
  
Fred grabbed her by the shoulders. "Of course it is, who else is going to help Frodo in the Two Towers?"  
  
Chrissie's eyes widened when she realised what Fred was saying. If Faramir died, Frodo might not survive.  
  
"KELLY! You can't kill him, he's got to help you know who later on!" Chrissie shouted at the top of her lungs. (This really was quite loud)  
  
Kelly paused and looked at them, then down at Faramir. She sheathed her dagger and took a step back. She held a hand out to Faramir and helped him up. Only Faramir wasn't quite finished with her yet.  
  
She walked away from him to fetch her fallen sword and didn't hear him unsheathing his dagger from his boot. He flung the dagger with all his might towards her.  
  
Chrissie and Fred tried to scream out to Kelly, to tell her what Faramir was doing, but it seemed that everything was happening in slow motion.  
  
Kelly turned just in time for the dagger to plunge into the right side of her stomach. Chrissie and Fred watched her eyes widen in shock as she sagged down to the floor. They couldn't move as the guards casually picked up her limp form and carried her back into the cells.  
  
The guard that had brought them up gave them a shove towards the door and let out a curse when they failed to move.  
  
"Get a move on ladies. Your friend's already dead so pull yourself together already." 


	6. CHAPTER SIX : SEEING

CHAPTER SIX - SEEING  
  
Chrissie and Fred sat huddled against the wall in their cell. At least the guards hadn't bothered to tie them up again, they seemed confidant they couldn't escape. They'd heard the guards drop Kelly's body in the cell next to theirs after finding her tattoo, thinking she was some kind of Sauron worshipper and might infect them if they got too close. They'd heard people saying they were waiting for the Steward to decide what to do with the carcass, although a thorough burning seemed to be the most popular idea.  
  
Fred had found a hole only about three or four centimetres across that went all the way into Kelly's cell. The guards had put her in a crude body sac so they wouldn't have to touch her and Chrissie and Fred had watched that bag for any kind of movement for hours at a time, hoping that Kelly would just jump up and shout surprise.  
  
Fred had said it was impossible to see anything clearly in these dark cells when Chrissie had mentioned that she didn't think Kelly was even breathing.  
  
Faramir had been to see them numerous times over the past three days, which was what they thought it had been, since there was a small window near the ceiling. Every time he had asked about his brother, about Minas Tirith and his father and every time neither girl had told him anything. They were not going to make the same mistake as Kelly.  
  
***  
  
"Do you think she's really dead, Chrissie?" Fred asked quietly.  
  
Chrissie looked again through the small hole and still see no movement.  
  
"I suppose so. I don't see how anyone could survive having a dagger stuck through their stomach and then being unconscious for three days. But then again, she is Kelly and you were unconscious for nearly eight days and you're still here."  
  
Chrissie was trying to be optimistic. She still hoped somewhere deep down inside that Kelly would find some ultimately suicidal and dangerous plan to get them home. With her dead, they would be on their own.  
  
Her thoughts drifted back to Mark. She knew she shouldn't be worrying about him really, he was probably tucked up in some cosy inn with a nice meal in his belly. But her thoughts could never stay away from who she really spent most of her time thinking on; Duin-Shiel.  
  
Her mind kept screaming at her, telling her if he was here, everything would be much better. They never would have gotten themselves captured, Duin-Shiel would have come up with some witty plan to capture Faramir's attention. Duin-Shiel would have also conceived some way to get Faramir to help them without telling him too much. And Kelly wouldn't be dead.  
  
***  
  
Mark twisted and turned in his sleep, not seeming to be able to sleep. He was sleeping in the stables with the horses, which he didn't mind that much, but he couldn't help wondering why he hadn't heard from Chrissie or Fred. Even bumping into Kelly would be better than this ignorance than gnawed at his insides.  
  
He'd tried to ask around quietly about anything unusual, but he was always met with strange glances. Nothing but orcs in soldier's minds, he was always told.  
  
He turned over, telling himself he couldn't do anything at this time of night anyway.  
  
***  
  
Duin-Shiel stood on one of the balconies in Rivendell and tried to think about nothing but the simple awe of the valley's beauty. He was concentrating so hard on not thinking, he never heard the figure step quietly up behind him. He nearly fell from the balcony when he felt a light hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I thought messengers were always supposed to be on their guard, even more so than rangers?" Duin-Shiel smiled as he recognised Arwen's musical voice.  
  
"Well, they are, but only when they're on duty."  
  
Arwen raised an eyebrow, obviously not thinking this the reason for him being so distracted.  
  
"What troubles you so?" She asked softly, joining him at the balcony's edge.  
  
Duin-Shiel paused, wondering what to say.  
  
Arwen studied his expression and smiled. "It's a girl, isn't it? I can always tell with you men who think you're so mysterious and unreadable." She said laughing.  
  
Duin-Shiel faced her. "You grow more like your father every day, Arwen." He turned back to the scenery, getting slightly worried that she might fully work out what was bothering him. He concentrated on a circle of trees near the Brunien.  
  
Arwen smiled again. If it were an Elven girl, no doubt it would be public knowledge. If it were a human girl.well, that might explain why he seemed so depressed. The fact that Aragorn was mortal depressed her sometimes.  
  
Thinking to change the subject, she thought of her conversation with Legolas some weeks ago now. "Have you any news of Chrissie and Fred?"  
  
Duin-Shiel blushed and Arwen laughed. "So that is it. Knowing you, it is probably Chrissie. So why exactly are you here and not with her?"  
  
Duin-Shiel took a deep breath. He had not told anyone of that morning yet. Arwen sensed his hesitation and laid a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"She told me to go to the Grey Havens, then go on to the Undying Lands. She told me to be happy and wished me luck in my new life." Duin-Shiel said dejectedly.  
  
"Aragorn had told me many times to go to the Undying Lands and be happy. Start a new life, he says, go be with your people. Do I listen to him? Not at all. He can be stubborn sometimes, but he has to remember that I have had thousands of years to practise being stubborn." Arwen paused, noticing the smile creeping onto Duin-Shiel's face.  
  
"Do you love her?" She asked.  
  
Duin-Shiel paused for no more than a moment. "Yes."  
  
"Well what are you waiting for? Go find her, if I know her she'd probably in trouble by now anyway."  
  
He paused. "She told me to leave because she has to go back to her home soon and we both know I can't follow her. She said I'd only be alone if I stayed."  
  
"Who says you can't go with her? Go, now. Go on, get out of here!" She said giving him a gentle shove.  
  
Duin-Shiel didn't need much convincing and was soon running towards his horse. It looked up in annoyance, expecting a few days after all this running about Middle Earth in the past few weeks. Duin-Shiel silently apologized and mounted quickly.  
  
He was going to Minas Tirith.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie grabbed Fred as she heard footsteps approaching down the corridor.  
  
Faramir burst into the cell, followed by several guards.  
  
"Chain them to the walls, I don't want them trying to escape or anything." He growled out, obviously in a bad mood.  
  
The guards threaded chains through the wall holds and pinned the girls on opposite sides of the room. Chrissie gave them numerous dirty looks, but it didn't seem to affect the guards.  
  
"I have been thinking." Faramir began, pacing up and down the room. The guards stood to the left of each captive, awaiting instructions.  
  
"Since you refuse to tell me anything and as you probably know my patience is very short, I have asked around and found out some interesting ways to make people talk."  
  
Chrissie's mouth dropped open, but Fred intended to try and reason with him.  
  
"But Gondor is a place of light and truth; where has the dignity of men gone if a Steward's son must resort to torturing two innocent girls." Fred hoped flattery might improve the situation.  
  
"You are not innocent. You were found with evidence of stealing on you and Chrissie, that is your name isn't it; tried to distract one of the guards so you could get in. It didn't surprise me when Kelly turned up, although I do regret killing her quite so soon, I would have liked to have heard a few of the stories she hinted at.  
  
But unfortunately she is unavailable now, so I'm going to have to settle with you two. I want to know where Boromir is and what danger he is in; right now."  
  
He focused all his attention on Fred, but when she didn't flinch, he nodded towards the nearest guard. He grabbed one of Fred's fingers and snapped it out of joint. Fred yelped only moments before Chrissie did, obviously upset at the treatment of her friend.  
  
Faramir leaned in close to Fred's face. "Tell me, Fred and this will all go away. Tell me what Kelly was planning."  
  
Fred shook her head defiantly and spat in his face.  
  
Faramir took a step back and wiped his face. He nodded to the guard who backhanded Fred across the face and dislocated the other fingers on that same hand. Fred still held firm to her resolve.  
  
Faramir moved over towards Chrissie and swiftly pulled the gem dagger out from his belt. He held it close to Chrissie's eye.  
  
"If you won't relent from pain on yourself, how about pain on your best friend?"  
  
Fred struggled against her chains. "You wouldn't do it, no I don't believe that Faramir son of Denethor would blind a young girl out of spite."  
  
Faramir edged the dagger closer to Chrissie's eye and noticed a bead of sweat running down her forehead. He ran the dagger lightly across her jaw and down her neck, leaving a small stream of blood behind.  
  
Chrissie winced under his touch and tried to shy away. However the chains had no give at all.  
  
Faramir looked up with a wicked smile. "Wouldn't I?"  
  
Fred took a deep breath, her eyes wild with fright as the dagger brushed Chrissie's eyelid.  
  
"Alright." She whispered. "I'll talk." She gave in, not listening to Chrissie's protestations.  
  
Faramir stepped back and nodded once more to the guards. They undid the holds and let the chains slide out. Both girls collapsed to the floor.  
  
"Keep to your word Fred and I will keep to mine. I tire of this now, but tomorrow at sundown I will return for your end of the bargain." 


	7. CHAPTER SEVEN : RETURN

CHAPTER SEVEN - RETURN  
  
Kelly took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Not that it seemed to make much of a difference in the amount she could see, but it felt good. For what had seemed like years, she'd been drifting in and out of consciousness, drifting through a mix of dreams and reality, never knowing which was real. Some of the time she'd thought she was dead and the rest wished she were.  
  
She knew she was inside a sack, she'd felt the rough hessian rubbing against her skin for most of the time and also that she was led on her back. Since that dagger had penetrated her back and near missed her kidney, it wasn't comfortable in the slightest.  
  
She tried lifting some of her fingers and was met with a wave of dizziness at even that small action. As slowly as she could, she managed to place her hand on top of her chest. She lay quietly after that, wishing for any guards who thought her dead to remain thinking that. Also she needed to catch her breath.  
  
Kelly pressed her fingers up against the hessian and found it came away easily under her touch. She moved it just enough for her face to be uncovered, then left it, not really having the strength to do much more.  
  
Her eyes darted around the cell, evaluating and searching when her body could not. She remembered this place, it was the same cell she'd been imprisoned in before. Smiling slightly, she let a small piece of happiness return.  
  
She heard raised voiced from the cell next to her, but the sounds hurt her ears and so she couldn't decipher much of it. Perhaps Faramir was up to his old tricks again.  
  
***  
  
When the strip of sunshine had faded from next to her, she tried moving her arm behind her head. Although when she'd been in here before she'd been untrained, she hadn't been stupid. She'd hidden food carefully beneath a loose brick under some straw, as well as a skin of water in case they decided to stop feeding her. It had also been in case she had needed to take it with her on her escape.  
  
Feeling her strength beginning to return, she managed to pull herself slowly towards the wall by hanging onto the wall with one hand and pushing with her ankles. Trying to move her torso as little as possible, she dug through the straw with her free hand and would have jumped for joy if she were able when she found the loose edges of the brick.  
  
Gritting her teeth against the pain, she pulled herself closer still, wincing at the slight scratching noise the hessian made as it snagged on the floor. She pulled the brick out and reached in hesitantly, wondering what state the food would be in after three weeks.  
  
Deciding that she didn't really care, she finished the package within minutes and the water too. She moved herself to a sitting position against the wall, hoping to ease her discomfort and fell into a deep sleep in minutes.  
  
***  
  
Kelly woke up feeling much better and the sunshine streaming through the tiny window even broached her foul mood. Her brain was less fuzzy this morning, she remembered exactly what that dirty rat Faramir had done to her and he would pay, but first she had to get free. If he had honoured his bargain and set Chrissie and Fred free, she wouldn't have to worry about them, but if not, she would have to work out where in this city they were being kept.  
  
She wriggled her toes and fingers and was glad to find them still present. She sat forward from the wall slightly and ran her hand slowly down her back to see exactly what damage had been done.  
  
It seemed as if the dagger had gone clean through, luckily not twisting too much either. Kelly sighed with relief; Chrissie was right, she really did have more lives than a cat.  
  
Tearing a strip from the bottom of her jerkin, she freed the tailor needle and thread sown into every brother's clothing in case of emergency. She also smiled at the folding knife.  
  
Gritting her teeth, she stitched her wound together as best she could on both sides and pulled herself to her feet. No matter how much it hurt, or how much she swore and raged, she was getting out of this cell.  
  
***  
  
Fred shook Chrissie awake, despite the inevitability she could get a good slap for her troubles.  
  
"Chrissie. Chrissie, you have to wake up." She took her life in her hands and gave her a little touch on the cheek.  
  
Chrissie spluttered. "Frodo? What.Fred? What's going on?" Chrissie looked around and remembered where she was and grimaced. "Why did you wake me up? I was having a nice dream about Frodo."  
  
Fred smiled and put her hand over Chrissie's mouth. "Listen."  
  
Chrissie's face fell, as she too heard the muffled scratching from next door.  
  
"What do you think it is? The only person next door is Kelly and she's dead. Fred, we saw her die and she hasn't moved for days. What could it possibly be?"  
  
"Perhaps your friend Theodore has brought some friends along."  
  
Chrissie raised an eyebrow. "Are you taking the mick out of my animal friends?"  
  
Fred leaned back a bit. "No, of course not." Then whispering under her breath, "I wouldn't dare."  
  
Chrissie bent down and tried to squint through the hole in the wall. However, something seemed to be in the way. Humming slightly, she gathered her little pet rat Theodore into her hands then gently pushed towards the hole. Perhaps he could push whatever obstacles there were out of the way.  
  
Fred looked on feigning interest but really beginning to worry. They'd been in this cell for about four days now, instead of just naming animals, Chrissie was actually talking to them, and sometimes she even said they answered back. Fred sighed. If they didn't get out soon, Chrissie would no doubt be completely loopy.  
  
Never the less, Theodore the rat crawled happily through the hole, allowing the girls to see what lay beyond. Both girls gasped. For the past four days they'd been able to see Kelly's body bag through the hole, but now it was no where to be seen.  
  
Fred tried to squeeze closer, see if she could see around the corner when a large brown eye looked through from the other end. Fred jumped a foot straight up in the air, sending Chrissie flying as well.  
  
Fred huddled closer to Chrissie. "There's someone in there."  
  
They looked at each other. That was impossible. Very slowly, they inched back towards the hole in the wall. Peeking through, the eye was still there.  
  
"That's Kelly! Yay, Kelly's alive!" Fred smiled and almost did a little dance. Chrissie's sour expression stopped her.  
  
"Yeah, but we saw her die, Fred. What if this is some kind of demon brought back from the dead by Sauron? She might be evil, Fred, what if."  
  
"Shut up Chrissie." Kelly croaked slowly through the gap.  
  
"Oh, it's Kelly alright." Fred said wryly. If Kelly was well enough to ridicule Chrissie, then things were well.  
  
"But you're.you're dead." Chrissie stammered, still not comprehending what was going on.  
  
"Well, it looked like that for a little.while, but what can I say? I have more lives than a cat. Although technically I've probably had more than nine.But never mind. Have you any plans for escape?"  
  
Kelly stopped to cough and shifted position. She swore when she realised the blood in her hand wasn't from her wound, but what she'd coughed up.  
  
"What is it?" Fred asked, sounding concerned  
  
Kelly winced as she turned away from the hole so she could wipe off her hand. "Nothing." She whispered back.  
  
Kelly eyed Chrissie and Fred through the hole. "You two have a few new cuts and scrapes, what have you been up to while I was out?"  
  
Chrissie and Fred looked at each other, not wanting to infuriate Kelly. "It was.Faramir."  
  
Kelly clenched her fists. "That slimy scum bucket. Why, when I get out of here I'll." She coughed again. Maybe she'd rest awhile then go after his hide.  
  
"Kelly?" Fred whispered quietly through the gap. "Are you sure you're alright? We know you like to pretend you don't feel pain, but you can tell us you know."  
  
Kelly smiled to herself. "I'm just feeling a little.tender, that's all. As soon as I heal enough to take out these itchy stiches, I'll be as right as rain."  
  
"You have stitches? When did you have stitches?" Chrissie said.  
  
Kelly raised an eyebrow and looked away. She did not want to talk about that right now.  
  
"So what's your plan of escape then?" Kelly said quietly, beginning to wonder if she'd over exerted herself already.  
  
"We.I don't know." Chrissie murmured, sounding slightly defeated.  
  
"Alright, then. Listen up. I only spoke to the sect here before I came here, whenever that was."  
  
"Four days." Fred corrected her.  
  
Kelly smiled. "No wonder I was so darned hungry.Well, they still think I'm with them and between them they spend a fair amount of time in here. If we can contact them, I have no doubts they'll bust us all out of here."  
  
Fred visibly shrank. "But they are.they might."  
  
"Would you rather stay in here?" Kelly raised an eyebrow, a smile returning to her strained face.  
  
"I agree with Kelly. We have to take a chance and go for it." Chrissie said.  
  
Both Kelly and Fred looked surprised. "That's a first." At a murderous look from Chrissie, Fred continued. "Do either of you have any weapons? Look around the cell, is there anything you can use?"  
  
Chrissie and Fred backed away from the hole and searched the cell. All they could find was a whole lot of dirty straw that smelled real bad.  
  
***  
  
"Uh, Kelly. We have a problem. Faramir's coming back tonight and he's not really very nice at the moment."  
  
Kelly thought for a moment.  
  
"Okay, Fred. I know how you like to be brave, so here's your chance. I'm sorry to talk about your size, but since you're the smallest, you're gonna have to go through. And you're going to have to go now."  
  
Kelly whispered through the hole in the wall, hoping Fred would heed her words. After Chrissie had moved away some of the smelly straw, Fred had come across a small hole and judging by the draught, it led outside.  
  
Fred took a deep breath, she'd never liked small spaces, but the only way to save her friends was to go; alone. She'd had thoughts about how she could possibly convince the sect that she was who she said she was and how scared she'd be, but Fred tried not to think of them too much.  
  
"Wait." Kelly whispered. She took the folding knife from her cloak and pushed in through the hole. "Take this. It's not much, but you need it more than I do."  
  
Fred examined the small knife and smiled. "Okay, thanks. I'll see you soon."  
  
Fred wriggled through the hole and dropped down in what smelled like a sewer. Wrinkling her nose, she followed the tunnels towards a circle of light and poked her head outside. Checking no one was watching, she sneaked outside.  
  
Following Kelly's directions, she found her way through the town to the broken cellar window. Climbing carefully down into the darkness, she nearly had heart failure when someone put their hand on her shoulder. She all but died when that same someone put a knife to her throat.  
  
"What do you want?" A voice from the shadows called.  
  
"Umm. I need your help. Kelly got in trouble rescuing my friend and I, and she's badly wounded. She's been locked up in Faramir's dungeon."  
  
A figure stepped into the light, revealing a stocky middle-aged man with fiery hair.  
  
"Why should we believe anything you say?" He asked gruffly.  
  
Fred panicked. She didn't know why, they just had to, or Kelly and Chrissie would be dead by dawn. In a frenzy, she removed the folding knife from her pocket.  
  
"She gave me this, hoping it might be useful to me. Faramir will return to them at sundown and if they're still there, I have no doubts that he will kill them." Fred tried to sound confidant and professional.  
  
Lee took the knife, examining the obvious origin of construction. But then again, she could have taken it from anywhere.  
  
"Show me your arms." He said, not waiting for an answer before rolling up her sleeves.  
  
"If you were initiated, you would have scars here, but you do not. Kelly said that you were not yet initiated." He seemed to share a glance with another member of the group, although their faces were still hidden in shadow.  
  
Taking a red leaf from a pouch at his waist, he offered it to Fred, who took it reluctantly.  
  
"Eat it and we will see what is in your heart."  
  
If that red leaf had been available in real time, then it probably would have been illegal, due to certain stimulating properties. But back in Middle Earth, it was simply used as a way to get someone feeling stoned in a few seconds. Stoned people told the truth.  
  
Fred took a tiny bite, feeling the hot spicy flavour begin to soak into her limbs. Popping the last bit into her mouth, she started laughing at the way they stood in the shadows, so seriously.  
  
"Kelly spoke of you, she said that you were somehow essential to Middle Earth. What is it exactly you do?"  
  
Fred laughed again, the effects of the herb clearly visible now. "What do we do? Oh not much, we run around and get lost, then someone comes to rescue us." The whole world seemed to spin around Fred and if it wasn't for the wall behind her, she probably would have fallen over.  
  
The man seemed to ponder a moment and look quickly around to others. "We cannot leave one of our own captive at Faramir's hands, especially when we promised our aid should this situation arise. We will leave at noon through the sewers in the town. Is the hole still there in the second cell?"  
  
"The hole in the cell? Well there's the door, and the one between the cells and the one in the floor."  
  
Lee nodded, obviously not listening to anything else they were saying, then whispered instructions to several other members that seemed to appear out of the woodwork.  
  
He took Fred by the shoulders and pushed her towards a dark haired man. He held Fred's figure as Lee removed his knife, noticing the way that Fred laughed and laughed at him as he moved. He made a long deep cut up her arm and as Fred noticed the well of blood that followed, the laughing ceased.  
  
That really was the only way to sober up people with the leaf in them, well, short of streaming them anyway. And if these kids were under Kelly's protection, then he had no intention of doing anything that might anger her. The only benefit of the drug was it made people so high they didn't care what truth they told.  
  
He looked over at Fred, tossing her a strip of cloth at the same time.  
  
"We leave at noon. Be ready."  
  
Fred tied the strip securely over her wound, still suffering the after effects of the drug. To save her friends, she would be ready anytime. Her brain seemed to pound inside her skull; next time she spoke to Kelly, she would ask her exactly what that leaf was. 


	8. CHAPTER EIGHT : CONFESSIONS

CHAPTER EIGHT - CONFESSIONS  
  
Chrissie listened to Kelly's haggard breathing as she leant against the wall. Only a few minutes after Fred had left, Kelly had said she was going to sleep, to conserve her strength for later. Personally, Chrissie had doubts that Kelly was telling her the entire story.  
  
They never had gotten the full story about 'streaming' from Duin-Shiel or Kelly and who knew what it involved or what imprints it left on the body. What repercussions were there? She'd seen the scars on Kelly's arms, just as Fred and Duin-Shiel had, but what had actually happened, she didn't know.  
  
She had doubts that Kelly had really recovered from her injuries. After a good three days being unconscious and suffering a deep stab wound, who knew what kind of internal bleeding she might have.  
  
Chrissie almost jumped out of her skin when she realised what was happening to her. She was worrying about Kelly. That was the first time for that really. Kelly had always seemed so self-assured and confidant, untouchable really and now when she'd suffered this wound, she seemed more.human.  
  
The haggard breathing pattern changed and Chrissie heard a muffled scuff of what she presumed was Kelly sitting up.  
  
"Kelly?" She whispered.  
  
"Yeah." Kelly croaked out, definitely feeling worse for wear now.  
  
"What's streaming?"  
  
The words seemed to hang in the air and for a moment Chrissie wished she could take them back.  
  
Kelly grunted. "We.are trapped in a prison cell and you.want to talk about torture. That is so predictable of you." Kelly took deep breaths between phrases, trying to lessen the pain in her side.  
  
Kelly hesitated. She hadn't spoke to anyone about her experiences in that cellar, but she supposed they would find out eventually.  
  
"Many people are initiated, more than could possibly be handled in the training system. To wheedle out the weaker candidates they.they stream everyone. They said that many brothers are captured by the Elves and they had to be sure you wouldn't break under the most brutal forms of torture. That's why they do it."  
  
Chrissie gasped. To stream ones enemies was one thing, but to stream one's family? That was beyond insane.  
  
"But surely Elves wouldn't actually torture anyone?" Chrissie asked, hoping she didn't sound too naïve.  
  
Kelly laughed slightly. "Not men or dwarves no, but they see us as less than human. I have been told they have no qualms about beating orcs for information, so why not us?"  
  
Kelly paused, wondering how much to say. "It's like a long collection of micro thin wires that they wind around your wrists, so thin that they penetrate your skin under hardly any pressure. Most bands consist of about forty on each arm. Hence the scars you saw on my arms. I was one of the lucky ones.  
  
They hang you by them for hours on end, asking you questions about everything they can think of, and if you make even the slightest reply, they beat you.  
  
The only water they give you is laced with red leaf, a hallucination drug designed to make you get so high, you just answer anything they ask. You see things that aren't there, terrible things, your memory twisting inside your mind. Sometimes you see your family and friends inside that chamber with you, suffering the same or worse punishments. Sometimes you see.never mind.  
  
They lace your wounds with burning charcoal, then ice and back again, alternating the process. Sometimes they just bleed you dry and let you try to hydrate yourself on your own blood.  
  
If after that you answer their questions, they just do it again and again. Name a type of torture and they're experts. Pricking, suffocation, hanging, starvation, dismemberment. If you still hold your resolve, then you become a full initiate."  
  
Kelly coughed again and noticed worriedly how far the sun seemed to be across the sky.  
  
"I've never told anyone that before. Not many brothers talk about their testing as it's called. We find it too painful. The reason we're so good at torturing others, is because we base it on our own experience. The first thing I did when I was able, was to hit one of my tormenters across the face."  
  
Chrissie listened in shock, half surprised that someone could survive such a process and half shocked that these people could do something like that to people they think of as family.  
  
"Kelly, you do know these people are evil now, don't you?"  
  
Kelly smiled and bent down to look at Chrissie's worried face through the hole.  
  
"Yes. I have no intention of ever going back to them. I know now they were just using me."  
  
Chrissie smiled, but there was one more question that she been burning to ask since they'd been reunited.  
  
"How are we going to save Frodo?"  
  
Kelly smiled at the predictability of Chrissie's question.  
  
"There's only one person in the sect that knows about the Fellowship. Kill him and we don't have to worry. We're meeting him, Canetha, at Cair Andras in three days time."  
  
Chrissie frowned. "What about that Ordon person you talked about? And the Old Man?"  
  
Kelly swallowed. "They're not a concern anymore." She wasn't proud of what she'd done to them and didn't like to think of it much. She hadn't wanted to mention it, because she knew Chrissie would make a fuss.  
  
Chrissie gulped. "Did you kill them? Why? I know they were evil, but couldn't you have just.How did you do it?"  
  
Kelly hesitated, not knowing if she wanted to confide anymore in Chrissie. "I knocked them out and burnt down the cottage."  
  
The air was silent for several minutes whilst both parties digested what had been said. Chrissie felt a mixture of sympathy for what had been done to Kelly and horror for what Kelly had done herself.  
  
Kelly was surprised she'd said as much as she had, she'd didn't usually talk about her feelings or weaknesses much, let alone to Chrissie.  
  
Chrissie was just about to ask another question when she heard a low scraping, coming from the direction of the hole in the floor, the one where Fred had escaped.  
  
"Kelly, I think someone's coming." She said quietly as she crept closer to the hole.  
  
She peered down it, trying to strain her eyesight to see anything new. A figure appeared in front of the light. It began meticulously breaking pieces of mortar around the hole and taking the bricks out. Soon, the hole was big enough to fit two people through and as the person signalled to Chrissie, she dropped through into the sewers. Catching hold of Fred's hand, she waited for them to bring Kelly out.  
  
***  
  
Kelly drifted in and out of darkness. She could hear scraping all around her, but it didn't seem important. She could feel the blood seeping through the crude bandage she'd made and her poor attempt at stitching, but that didn't seem important either.  
  
She just laid back against the cell wall and waited for whatever was going to happen to get on with it. She tried to cough up what felt like a sticky lump of blood, but didn't have the energy to spasm her muscles. Her breathing slowed as the sticky substance began to cut off her air supply and the world began to spin around her.  
  
She felt someone check her neck for a pulse and whisper a word to another. She felt a tight bandage go around her middle and the strain on her back ease. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment to see a man with fiery hair looking back at her. Lee had come for her after all.  
  
***  
  
Lee lifted her body over his shoulder then pushed her slowly through the hole he'd made between the cells. Squeezing through himself, he lowered her down to the waiting brothers below and followed them down the sewer pathways.  
  
Faramir would be coming soon and would no doubt find their little escape routes and launch a campaign after them. But they could never leave one of their own behind and so they would risk it.  
  
The healer in their sect took a sour look at her as he laid her down back inside their own grounds.  
  
"What's her chances?" He asked gruffly.  
  
The healer sighed. "A normal person would be dead already, but she has some strength of will yet. If she survives the night, she may yet live a while longer."  
  
Lee glanced at the anxious faces of the two young girls huddled in the corner of the room. He doubted they really were initiates, they practically jumped out of their skin every time a brother passed within ten metres of them. Perhaps they were an information source of some kind.  
  
Lee left the healer to her work and climbed the stairs back to the surface. He needed a drink and he needed to see what the local grapevine was already saying about the jail breakout.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie and Fred sat near Kelly as the healer worked. Chrissie had told Fred much of what Kelly had told her over the afternoon and as shocked as Fred had been, she had not been surprised. Only a few weeks before their transportation, she had begun writing torture fanfics. She had researched some torture methods on the Internet and although she hadn't ever heard of this 'streaming' before, it sounded typical of some of the more psychotic cults spread across the globe.  
  
The healer glanced over to them after about half an hour.  
  
"You two her friends?" She asked, suspicion edging in her voice.  
  
Chrissie and Fred nodded.  
  
"She'll survive. She'll have a hell of a headache in the morning and have to be careful for a few weeks whilst the wound heals, but otherwise she'll be fine."  
  
The healer exited the room, wiping her hands on her clothes as she went.  
  
As soon as they thought she was out of ear shot, Chrissie and Fred both said what they'd been thinking.  
  
"She suspects that we're nothing to do with the sect, doesn't she?" Fred said first.  
  
Chrissie nodded. "We should leave really, but Kelly said we had to go with them to meet 'Canetha' or someone."  
  
Fred looked over to Kelly, but seemed to be having a great time in wherever she was. She was smiling lightly.  
  
"Well at least she's happy." Chrissie said sarcastically. "Doesn't look like we're going anywhere."  
  
Chrissie slumped down to the floor and tried to move into a comfortable position so she might try to get some sleep as well.  
  
Fred looked down at Chrissie's stubborn face and put all thoughts of argument from her mind. Sitting down slowly next to her, she managed to nestle down into a crack in the wall. However, restful sleep never came for her that night.  
  
*** Chrissie: I would be very scared if Fred displayed any more signs of turning into me.  
  
Tbiris: He was lucky, nothing more.  
  
Lil Kawaii Doom: Doomness to you too! Thanks.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: Of course you have to suffer Fred, it's an angst Fanfic for pity's sake. I am not saying anything about the d-word.  
  
Hobbit-Eye: Updates are coming.  
  
Hannah: Kelly, cheat? She'd never even dream of it. ;)  
  
Chrissie: I seriously think you can shout that loudly, I mean you haven't heard you have you? You need me? Oh that's a first.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Okay, rejoice Kelly's not dead.yet. Although she's not out of the woods yet.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: Okay I die and two moments later you're already blaming me for everything. Nothing changes does it?  
  
Arinya: Well Kelly knows the rules, that the winner hasn't won until the Master of Arms sort of declares it, she just got a bit annoyed. There she was finally able to kill her tormenter and she got stopped. So I suppose she probably was a bit distracted. P.s, I love dramatics!  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: I just hate Faramir. Maybe it's just that image of David Wenham with his squinty little eyes, I have no idea. But he will redeem himself, don't worry.  
  
Tbiris: I'm afraid to say Duin-Shiel won't be the rescuer in this particular instance and not for the next few either. Although he will be providing a dramatic cliff hanger and some point so keep your eyes peeled!  
  
Chrissie: What do you mean you didn't realise? Are you like blind or something? Of course he loves you, he's a soppy elf. Sorry, but you ain't gonna be seeing Duin-Shiel for quite a long time yet.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: So you finally noticed? I don't know what you're getting so upset about, I mean it's not even your dagger. You only touched it for about a minute, I mean who knows what Faramir's doing with it now?  
  
Hannah: Justice will be served, mark my words.  
  
Hannah: I know tests are so tiresome. Well he may be redeemed yet.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: I just had to put something in about Chrissie's little animals somewhere, there's such amusing anecdotes!  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: I thought you might like that.  
  
Chrissie: I would never publicly suggest you are crazy, since I'm not suicidal.  
  
Tbiris: Well she's not out of the woods yet and with her crazy lifestyle, who knows how long it will be till she's near death again? 


	9. CHAPTER NINE : FINDING

CHAPTER NINE - FINDING  
  
Kelly lifted her hand and rubbed her eyes. She felt like she'd slept an entire week and the pain in her back was almost gone. She slid her arm down to feel the wound but winced before she even got near it. Maybe the pain wasn't entirely gone.  
  
She pulled herself into a sitting position against the dirt wall behind her and looked around the room. It was obviously underground by the lack of light and dirt walls, yet something felt strangely familiar. She noticed a crude carving into the wall; a bat, it's wings caught in mid-flight.  
  
Kelly smiled. So Fred had succeeded in getting the sect's help in rescuing them. Looking over the edge of her bed, she noticed Fred and Chrissie cuddled up against the wall, gently snoring. Laughing slightly, she got tenderly out of bed and hobbled across the room.  
  
Holding onto the bandage on her back, as if by doing so she could hold herself together, she poked her head around the doorway. Not seeing anyone coming, she started off. Even when she'd been near death twice in the last few days and was still beat up pretty bad, her sense of curiosity and adventure still got the better of her.  
  
***  
  
Kelly heard someone coming and instantly melted into the shadows, cursing slightly as her stitches pulled. Realising it was only Lee as she saw his fiery hair, she stepped out in front of him.  
  
"What? You shouldn't be up yet, let alone playing hide and seek in the shadows. Get back to bed, before I carry you there myself, kicking and screaming or not."  
  
Kelly looked at him for a moment, then snuck back to her original room. Lying down quietly in her bed, she noticed Chrissie stirring slightly. Drawing on some of the boundless energy she seemed to have gained in the last few hours, she pretended to be asleep. It was time for a little prank.  
  
Kelly heard Chrissie pull herself to her feet and walk over towards her. She fluttered her eyelids and rubbed them slightly, feigning that she was just waking up.  
  
"Kelly?" Chrissie whispered.  
  
Kelly opened her eyes. "I feel the end is near, Chrissie. I'm sorry I got you into this. I didn't mean to, honest." Kelly tried to smile innocently whilst looking like she was on death row.  
  
"Does it.hurt?" Chrissie asked, tact never having been one of her virtues.  
  
Kelly nodded, letting a stray tear fill her eyes. "It's terrible.like."  
  
Chrissie leaned forward to catch what she thought might be Kelly's last words.  
  
"Get off me you big oaf!" She cried loudly, making Chrissie jump a mile. Kelly couldn't stop herself from laughing after that. "You should have seen your face.you actually thought I was dying."  
  
Fred woke up hearing all the commotion. "What's going on? Is Kelly alright?"  
  
Chrissie gave Kelly a murderous glance. "Well she's fine for now, but I wouldn't count on her surviving much longer."  
  
Fred looked stricken. "What's the matter with her?"  
  
Chrissie smiled tightly. "I may have to kill her soon."  
  
Fred let the corner of a smile touch her lips. "She didn't.oh, well at least she's back to some sense of normalcy. Do you prefer her or scary 'I'm going to kill you' Kelly?"  
  
Chrissie thought for a moment. "Fair enough." She slumped back down to the ground. "So Kelly, about this Canetha person. Are these people leading us to them?"  
  
Kelly stopped laughing and looked at them long and hard.  
  
"Well.do they suspect that you're not initiates?" She asked quietly. The eyes and ears of assassins were everywhere.  
  
Chrissie nodded. "Once the healer tells what she knows, it'll be common knowledge."  
  
Kelly thought for a moment. "You have to go then."  
  
Chrissie visibly snapped. "What? Are we supposed to just wait around until you finish your 'business' like lap dogs or something? Just do your errands when we're told and nothing more? How do you know you can even do 'it' in your present state?"  
  
Kelly scowled, but thankfully Fred intervened. "Mark is here. We left him in one of the stable inns with the horses."  
  
Kelly thought to herself. "Mark is here? Wow. Well that's gives you the perfect excuse to leave. Go check on Mark and take yourselves about three or four miles north of Cair Andras. As soon as I find out the details of the meeting, I'll join you there so we can finish our 'business' as you call it."  
  
Chrissie shrugged. "I'm not going to kill anybody." She said stubbornly.  
  
"Fine, then. I'll do it. But it's to save Frodo remember."  
  
Kelly slumped back into her bed, wishing she could just wake up and this would all go away.  
  
She was doing the right thing she told herself, if any of the sect found out their true identities, they'd all wish they were dead. If Mark really was here, then he had to be found and brought away from the sect as well. Yet, considering all this, Kelly did not relish the idea of spending time alone with the sect.  
  
"At noon I'll make a big deal about sending you both on an errand. Since you're not full initiates they will expect you to follow my command. Look humble and honoured, leave quickly and you'll be forgotten sooner. The next time you see me, Frodo will nearly be in the clear."  
  
Chrissie pouted at Kelly's back, despite the large blood-stained bandage still remained tied there. Blushing slightly she whispered her final question.  
  
"Where or what is Cair Andras?"  
  
Kelly smiled without even looking at them. "It's an island in the middle of the Anduin river, several miles north of Osgiliath. Just follow the river north and you'll find it. It's only about a day's hard ride. Meet me somewhere on the west bank."  
  
Kelly listened to them leave the room and their footsteps disappear down the corridor. She hadn't told them about the palantir, but she had no idea why. She supposed she didn't want them to think any less of her than they already did, if that were even possible. What if they thought she was communing with Sauron with it or something?  
  
She'd put them both at risk countless times, where if she'd have just kept her mouth shut, things would be so different. This was all her fault.  
  
In fact, if it's wasn't for her, they would probably be sat in some classroom now, safe and sound. She checked her watch: November 25th 10:51am. Kelly sighed. It was her Dad's birthday and her parents thought she was probably dead. What a mess she'd made of everything.  
  
***  
  
Mark glanced at the sun again, well what he could see of it through his small window. He'd waited patiently for the first four days, thinking perhaps Faramir just needed a lot of convincing. Afterwards he started asking questions around the local inns and taverns, for any news of some girls around the Steward's palace. The news that he received had shocked him.  
  
He'd heard that two girls had attempted to rob Faramir, but had quickly been apprehended by the Steward's Men. Shortly before their punishment was due to be administered, another girl, named Kelly had arrived. All the innkeepers in Minas Tirith knew of Kelly and whispered her name as if saying it might draw the wrath of Sauron himself. She'd tried to fight for the thieves' freedom but the brave and righteous Captain Faramir had taken her on himself and fought her to the death.  
  
He'd heard that the thieves were now imprisoned again and that the carcass was to be burned soon.  
  
Mark had stalked around the edges of the prison, looking for weaknesses, but after he began to be recognised by the guards, he stayed away. He'd stayed in his room in the inn all that day, afraid one of the guards might find him.  
  
***  
  
He was looking around, seeing if there was anything to do when he'd come across a sack stashed in the corner. Whatever was inside it was heavy and on taking it out of the sack, he came face to face with a palantir.  
  
If he'd have seen this more than a few weeks ago, no doubt he wouldn't have had a clue as to what it was. Studying at an Elven library had changed that and now he knew what evil these things could do, twisting men's minds and distorting their will. He knew they were not all accounted for and if he was to use it, Saruman could easily find him, or worse and closer, Sauron himself.  
  
But what about Chrissie and Fred. It wouldn't hurt to look just once, to see where they were and see if they were okay. Just once.  
  
Mark put a hand on each side of the palantir and looked into the swirling patterns of purple and black inside it. At first he saw nothing, then a stone texture appeared within it. Then straw at the bottom and two shadowed figures. The picture sharpened and he could easily pick out their features. He smiled. So they were alright.  
  
He thought of the Elves back at Lothlorien, those he'd met and talked with and without his consent, the image wavered and changed, showing him the green of the trees. Mark tried to pull his hands away. He didn't want this to get caught up in the magic of Lothlorien, it could draw unwanted attention.  
  
He flung his whole body back and laid gasping on the floor for several seconds. He felt so.worn.tired. He'd just go to sleep for a little while, just to recover his strength. Not for long.  
  
***  
  
When Mark finally awoke, dawn was just breaking. He rubbed his eyes wearily and heard his stomach rumbling. He'd could believe he'd been asleep for nearly fourteen hours, it just didn't seem natural. He looked around the room and when he saw the palantir, he jumped a full foot in the air. He crawled backwards against the far wall and clung to it, as if it might protect him.  
  
He had used the palantir to find Chrissie and Fred; then he had fallen asleep for over fourteen hours, exhausted. He resolved never to use the thing again, no matter how desperate things got. He chucked his cloak over it, so no passing fool would see it and started downstairs.  
  
***  
  
He didn't come back to his room until late that night, trying to put off his confrontation with it for as long as possible. Putting it as far away from him as possible, he lay down to sleep, but his dreams were plagued with the eye of Sauron and strange purple balls that constantly chased him and plagued his thoughts.  
  
*** Hobbit-Eyes: Yeah, Kelly's alright for the moment. I got the feeling several people were quite upset at the thought of her being dead, so I had to bring her back.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: Well you would like my suffering wouldn't you? You were such a rebel being intoxicated like that, I mean you didn't have to take the drug, you could have fought one of them and they probably would have listened to you afterwards. Not that you would have survived with your skill with a blade, but let's not fret about details, that gives me an idea.  
  
Chrissie: You are so presumptuous, I mean how do you know that has anything to do with you? It could be Fred's old bit of crumpet but you've already jumped to conclusions. Remember it's an angst Fanfic, so if there's no angst, it's a bit pointless.  
  
Tbiris: Duin-Shiel's out of the story for a while, he's got a lot of travelling to do getting all the way from Rivendell to Minas Tirith. And since they're leaving Minas Tirith, they won't be there anymore. 


	10. CHAPTER TEN : FORGIVING

CHAPTER TEN - FORGIVING  
  
Kelly handed a piece of rolled parchment to Chrissie, despite the redness in her face that told Kelly she was about to explode. Kelly had timed it so that the healer was still fiddling about with something across the room, so with any luck, news that Chrissie and Fred had left would be public knowledge within hours.  
  
Chrissie stormed out, still annoyed to be a 'messenger' even though she knew full well the parchment was a blank decoy. Fred followed her out quickly, pleased to be leaving this dark, scary place.  
  
Kelly sat back against the wall and sighed. She herself would be leaving at dusk, despite no amount of pleading she expected from Lee. She had to find that palantir. She also had to pay a little visit to Faramir before she left, in order to correct his fate.  
  
***  
  
As expected, Lee insisted she stay, but she politely thanked them for their assistance and sneaked out. She wanted nothing more to do with them, since she'd overheard Lee talking about the meeting soon after Chrissie and Fred had left.  
  
Kelly stalked up through the shadows and soon selected a suitable tree to climb that would give her full access to the rooms inside. Wincing at the pulling of her stitches, she climbed up carefully and slipped inside. Predictably enough, Faramir was studying maps in his study, the comment she'd made about orc attacks had seemed to put him on edge.  
  
"Hello Faramir."  
  
He jumped a mile out of his chair and immediately reached for his sword.  
  
"You're not going to need that, Faramir, I'm not here to fight." She said quietly.  
  
"I.killed you." He stuttered out, silently damning his guards for letting her gain entry to his home a second time.  
  
Kelly smiled. "Well it was a close thing, but that's not what I'm here to talk about."  
  
Faramir backed up a little against the wall, wondering what he'd done to deserve a visit from a demon, ghost.thing.  
  
"Are you listening?" Faramir nodded quickly. "Okay then. In several months time, you will be faced with a decision that will change the fate of Middle Earth. It is imperative that you make the right choice.  
  
Try to remember Faramir, that not everyone is a spy or a servant of Sauron. Not everyone is against you, there's no need to be so suspicious of everyone.  
  
I'm not saying hug everyone in sight, but be careful not to mistake a friend for a foe."  
  
Kelly took a deep breath. She'd thought about that speech for most of the day, hoping that when Faramir met up with Frodo and Sam, his mind wouldn't be influenced by his experiences with her, Chrissie and Fred.  
  
Faramir appraised her silently. Her words had a ring of truth to them, but he didn't quite grasp what she was trying to tell him.  
  
"What of my brother? Is it true he's in danger?"  
  
Kelly sighed. She'd hoped to make her speech and leave before he could ask any awkward questions.  
  
"Can you think of a time when he is not? But Faramir, your place is here, protecting Minas Tirith in whatever way you deem necessary."  
  
Kelly turned to leave. She was getting tired from all this running around and she was beginning to run out of diplomatic sounding excuses. She was just crouched in the window ready to step out into the tree when Faramir touched her shoulder.  
  
He'd thought much over that day in the courtyard and hadn't been able to sleep since. He hadn't been able to rid the betrayal in her eyes as he'd thrown that knife into her and had preyed that there might be someway for him to undo the hurt he'd caused these last few weeks.  
  
"I'm sorry. For the dagger that day. Tell your friends I'm sorry as well." He pressed three daggers into her hands. One was the jewelled dagger Fred had tried to steal that day and the other was Karth's dagger, the one that he had taken from her after trying to kill her. The handle was obsidian crystal with a shining black blade. It meant a lot to her.  
  
The third was an beautifully engraved Elven dagger, obviously meant for Chrissie. How Faramir knew she was in love with an Elf, she had no idea.  
  
She smiled. Perhaps he would make a good man after all. "Thank you Faramir, for this. It means a lot."  
  
He reached up and stroked one lock of hair from her face.  
  
"I did like your hair colour, you know." He whispered.  
  
Kelly laughed and brushed his hand away. "You have other people to meet Faramir, you are meant for great things. Never forget that."  
  
Kelly stepped onto the tree branch and disappeared back into the shadows, leaving a confused Faramir stood on his balcony for the rest of the night, searching the shadows for her.  
  
***  
  
As Kelly left the city she smiled at the irony of Faramir. Four days ago he'd tried to kill her and just now he was hitting on her? Nothing in her life seemed to make sense anymore.  
  
Hopefully by now Chrissie and Fred would be in Mark's company, and that brought her a measure of relief. With any luck they would be at least halfway to Cair Andras by now.  
  
Kelly shook her head. Luck had favoured her many times over the past weeks, times when she should have died and hadn't, times when she should rightly have lost her fights yet had survived all.  
  
Would it favour her friends as well? Her thoughts drifted to Duin-Shiel. Even though she hated him with a fury unrivalled only for her tormenters, knowing he was with them would settle her mind somewhat. Even admitting that fact to herself was hard, but it was a start if she was going to heal the rift between herself and the Elves.  
  
If she was ever going to get out of here, she was going to need their help.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie and Fred crept on cat's feet up the stairs to the hay loft, not only surprised that he hadn't been waiting for them downstairs, but concerned by the innkeeper's words that he hadn't been out of his room for the past two days.  
  
They were expecting the worst, but what they found was beyond any expectations they had and left them feeling sick.  
  
Mark sat in the middle of the floor, as white as death and shaking like a junkie, his hands still placed around the palantir.  
  
"I knew you were coming." Mark stuttered, almost to himself. His body shot upright as if lightning had passed from his hands through his body.  
  
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" He screamed, sending Chrissie and Fred back against the walls in fright.  
  
"How do we 'disconnect' him from that thing, Fred. It's a palantir. How did Gandalf get it off Pippin?"  
  
Fred paused and cocked her head slightly. "I don't know, I can't remember. I think he should kinda separated Pippin from it and shook him or something."  
  
Chrissie nodded, focused on her task.  
  
She walked over to Mark and grasped him by the shoulders. She yanked him back as hard as she could whilst Fred tossed the stone into a sack.  
  
Mark began shaking uncontrollably and yelling incomprehensible words into the air.  
  
"Mark?" Chrissie asked, slapping him across the face in fright.  
  
Mark's body relaxed as he came to, but it took him a full minute to remember where he was.  
  
"Chrissie? Fred? Oh.I remember now. I found it in the corner and I was worried.and I only wanted to look once, but it called to me all the time. Then he came and it felt like I was being burned alive and he asked me things, but I didn't say anything."  
  
He shuddered at the memory. Chrissie and Fred looked around the room then back at Mark.  
  
"We have to get him away from this thing." Fred said, looking distastefully at the sack in front of her.  
  
"But we can't just leave it here. What if someone finds it and uses it to speak to Sauron?"  
  
Fred nodded, but kept the sack at arm's stretch away from her as they walked down to the stables.  
  
Thankfully their horses were still in good condition, despite being in need of a good rub down, but there was strength in them left to ride.  
  
"We should get going." Fred insisted, not wanting to stay a minute longer in this city, still wary that Faramir might find them and take her up on her word.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie looked back on the city as they left, admiring the spiralling towers and shining marble domes. It really was a sight to be seen, but the image would always be marred for her from her experiences in the lower portion of the town.  
  
Looking ahead, the lake town of Osgiliath approached, but since none of them had any wish to spend a night in a city, they steered well clear of it's boundaries, hoping to make as much distance while the light still held.  
  
Mark still looked fragile, but she caught the fact that his eyes kept darting to the bulge in a sack strapped to the back of her horse. She did not need to guess what was in there; the look in his eyes confirmed it.  
  
When they could no longer see clearly, they stopped the horses and brushed them down lightly. Consulting quietly with Fred, they decided to take turns watching it through the night. Fred would take the first watch, additionally watching for any soldiers who might catch up with them. Chrissie would take over just after midnight.  
  
Fred sat against the trunk of a tree, the palantir next to her, the side of the sack actually touching the side of her leg for comfort's sake. They had built no fire, so she could see quite a distance in clear moonlight, so despite her exhaustion, she was happy.  
  
Happy was a broad term for what she was feeling, but in her present state she could think of no better adjective. It was more a feeling of liberation, from Faramir and the sect, escaping with their lives and Mark's, of being so close to saving Frodo.  
  
All the things she'd thought about so much in the last few days were coming to a head, everything they'd planned for coming to fruit. It was that feeling, the one she couldn't describe.  
  
She believed Kelly would probably call it exhilaration.  
  
Chrissie shook her awake in the dead of night and for a moment she was ashamed she'd fallen asleep. She immediately touched to her side, but gladly the comforting touch of the palantir was still there. Fred moved over nearer to the centre of their camp and snuggled down, watching as Chrissie tried to get comfortable against the trunk of the tree. She smiled. That knot just to the right of her spine was probably bothering her too.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie stared out into the shadows, half afraid a glowing pair of eyes might appear out of the gloom and race towards her. That experience in the Misty Mountains still haunted her. But as usual when her mind cleared of thoughts, thoughts of Duin-Shiel always came to the surface.  
  
She thought of how he would look here, probably sat in one of the trees, for a better vantage point he would say, silhouetted against the shape of the moon. Go to sleep he would say, he would keep watch. And then in the morning, he would gently touch her face to wake her, but the light touch he gave her was always too short.  
  
Her eyes were just beginning to glaze over when she heard a twig snap somewhere in front of her. Her eyes shot open and she felt for the palantir beside her. Luckily it was still there.  
  
She peered into the darkness, but could see nothing. She was just about to dismiss it as an animal or something, when a shadow darted through her peripheral vision. That shape was way too big to be a fox, or even a badger. It was more like orc size. She crawled over to Fred, as quietly as she could and woke her silently.  
  
"I think there's an orc over there." She whispered into her ear. Fred nodded and reached for the table dagger at her belt. She may not be trained in weapons or know how to use it, but she would damn well try.  
  
Chrissie woke Mark, who spluttered as he woke, but soon the three were gathered in the centre of their camp, holding a mini meeting.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Chrissie asked. She almost wished Kelly were here. Almost.  
  
"Where there's one, there's always more." Fred thought out loud. One orc they could probably handle. Two or three perhaps. A whole band of them would be a problem.  
  
"I can't believe they're this close to Osgiliath, the city must be in turmoil for orcs to wander the western shores." Mark said, drawing the glances of the other two. They'd forgotten he'd studied Elven lore for weeks, so obviously knew much of tactics and orcs.  
  
Fred glanced nervously in the direction Chrissie had pointed in. She could see nothing now, but who knew what was really out there? She looked around, looking for anything that could be used as a defensive position.  
  
She did a little dance and jumped in glee. "Chrissie, Kelly said Cair Andras was an island right, and not far from Osgiliath."  
  
Chrissie seemed to catch on her line of thought and nodded. "Let's go, quickly before they come back."  
  
Mark stared at the two women. "Do I get a say in this at all?"  
  
Chrissie and Fred both answered simultaneously as they saddled their horses.  
  
"No."  
  
***  
  
Fred looked into the swirling black ink that was the River Anduin. She could see the island ahead, but it seemed so far away. Behind her she could hear the pounding of feet on earth and the drums of war. Whether or not she liked it, they were crossing to that island.  
  
Holding firmly onto her horse's bridle, she took a step into the waters, hearing Chrissie follow on behind her. The palantir was in a sack tied to her horse's flanks, but she couldn't ease the feeling it might just fall off and be lost forever.  
  
The water started to numb her limbs as it climbed over her waist. She took a deep breath and carried on, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She gripped tighter onto the bridle as the ground disappeared beneath her feet and her head went beneath the surface.  
  
She came up spluttering, but held firmly to her horse. She hoped it was a better swimmer than her.  
  
It seemed hours than she was submerged in that icy water, but as long as she focused on the shore ahead of her, she held onto the hope that she would survive. Anyway, being in this water was better than being back on the western shore, with the orcs.  
  
When her feet finally touched the sand at the bottom of the river, she almost shouted in relief. She led the horse up the bank and tied it to tree, walking back to help her friends from the water. Chrissie looked drenched and on the verge of exploding, so she stepped very lightly around her.  
  
Mark was muttering something about if only they had looked, they would have seen the orcs coming. Fred didn't understand what he was on about, so just took it for the after effects of using the palantir.  
  
Later on, in hindsight, she would wish she had paid more attention to it 


	11. CHAPTER ELEVEN : MORALS

CHAPTER ELEVEN - MORALS  
  
Kelly rode north through the night, ignoring the pain her back gave her. She would deal with it later, when she had spoken to her friends. The palantir was missing from the stable.  
  
Osgiliath approached with the dawn, although it looked a little worse for wear as she saw it. Looking closer, many soldiers seemed to be patrolling around, perhaps still looking for whoever had destroyed some of their city.  
  
She dismounted and hid her horse in a thicket of trees. It looked like she was going to have to walk from now on, a horse silhouette was much larger than a human's and could be spotted more easily.  
  
She kept close to the ground, moving too slow for her own taste, but at least she was alive. She looked at her clothes. At least she was in normal garb now and as the prospect of passing by unnoticed slimmed, passing as a soldier seemed more likely.  
  
She sat for a moment behind a rock formation, watching their actions. It looked as if they'd been attacked and the only things that attacked this far east were orcs. So why were they watching the western shore so viciously?  
  
It dawned on her. Some orcs must have made it across. Damn her luck in getting caught up in this, she had no time to go capering across the countryside looking for orcs, as much fun as it sounded. She could see the outline of Cair Andras ahead, maybe only a couple of miles away. But there was no cover between her hiding place and there.  
  
Another thought dawned on her. If there was no cover this side of the river, then where were Chrissie, Fred and Mark? What if they'd been attacked by the orcs? What if they'd been captured by orcs?  
  
She slumped down to the ground and sighed. She only had two days before the sect would be here and there was no doubt in her mind Canetha would be here before then. They were to meet actually on the island Lee had told her. So to cross, she would need to be at least half a mile upstream.  
  
She turned and looked back down to the lines of soldiers. There was absolutely no way to get through there unnoticed. A piece of lateral thinking slid to her attention. Perhaps that was the point. Perhaps the only way to go through unnoticed was to be completely noticed? Kelly smiled slightly, on one hand she could well be hunted down like a fox by the soldiers, but on the other, small chance, she might get to the island before they knew what she was doing.  
  
She took a deep breath and reached for the orc helmet she'd seen poking up through the undergrowth. She'd done this once before, but could she do it again?  
  
***  
  
Kelly padded out her cloak a little, knowing that if they were only going to see her outline and it had to look like that of an orc. She looked up to where to sun was rising in the east. She had better get a move on.  
  
She slipped down the bank, cursing a little as she nearly stumbled. She ran full out over the plain, not stopping for any man. By the look of it was only two miles at the most. She heard the first shouts from the guards and put on an extra burst of speed.  
  
***  
  
A guard stood in one of the towers of Osgiliath noticed the dust cloud first. At first he could see no movement, but as he looked past it, he spotted an orc running north across the plain. For a full minute he stood and watched, wondering why on earth it wasn't attacking. Why was it running parallel to the river and not trying to cross?  
  
His instincts kicked in as the dot began to get smaller, he rang the bell in the tower and noticed a line of archers appear on a walkway nearby. They notched their arrows and fired, not hesitating or even seeming to breath between shots.  
  
The guard looked as the dot began to fade in the distance. The barrage of arrows stopped. Five soldiers on horseback appeared on the plain and began galloping after the orc. It was only one orc after all.  
  
***  
  
Kelly swore aloud as she saw the cloud of arrows coming for her. She had hoped a guard might be confused to see an orc running past for several minutes longer, but obviously the attack had been more severe than she'd thought.  
  
She looked around for cover, but seeing none cursed again. This was definitely not her day. An arrow bounced off her helmet and she ducked another coming for her neck. It was almost a dance, twisting her head to see where the next arrow was coming behind her and adjusting her body accordingly.  
  
She groaned as an arrow went clean through her palm, but smiled at the irony of it. Just over two weeks ago she had given a similar injury to her only natural enemy. Now she knew just how much it hurt.  
  
She pulled the arrow out as she ran, pleased to see the arrows had stopped, but not happy to see that a patrol of guards were now galloping towards her.  
  
Perhaps if they dismounted, she could take them if she were at full strength. But she was not, she reminded herself, her wound in her side was always slowing her down and if she wasn't careful it would get her killed.  
  
She looked back ahead, trying not to think about the approaching guards.  
  
"I will not be taken again." She swore silently. There were not many things she couldn't handle in some form, but being in a cage was one of them. She'd survived twice before, but a third time might just break her.  
  
She would die before she let them take her again.  
  
Cair Andras was now to her right, seeming to rise out of the waters in sheer defiance. Just another five minutes running and she might make it across she told herself.  
  
She could feel the pound of the hooves on the ground now, feel the tremors shake through her body. She was glad they didn't have bows and arrows or she really would be stuffed.  
  
They were only a hundred metres behind her now, so she began wading into the waters, regardless of how far upstream she was. If she didn't cross now, she would surely die.  
  
Kelly took a deep breath and dove underneath the water, trying to stay beneath the surface for as long as possible. Perhaps they wouldn't be able to follow her movements and give up.  
  
She went back to the surface and checked where she was. The guards were stood by the edge, watching the waters for her. She looked to the other side; she was nearly halfway across. Kicking hard with her feet she propelled herself towards a stone outcrop in the river and let herself catch her breath.  
  
"Hey. I've found it. Captain!" A deep voiced shouted from the western side.  
  
Damn, Kelly thought. She dived back under the water and was glad when she found the bottom not too far away. She swam until she thought her lungs would burst, then broke the surface and crawled up the bank. She dragged herself into some undergrowth and just lay there gasping like a fish out of water.  
  
She thought about fighting back when two arms grabbed her and dragged her backwards, deeper into the island. She thought about struggling, but the run across the plain and swim had left her exhausted. She couldn't see how they could have got across the river so fast anyway, so she just let things be. She'd figure it out later.  
  
***  
  
Kelly woke up wrapped in a blanket, but it was twilight now. Swearing, she shook off her blanket. She was almost surprised to see Chrissie, Fred and Mark sat across from her, obviously not impressed.  
  
She managed a meek smile.  
  
"How on earth did you manage to get that lot behind you? You've only been gone less than twenty-four hours and you're already causing trouble." Fred said, half demanding and half laughing.  
  
"It wasn't my fault really. Some orcs attacked last night and made it across the Anduin. They were feeling touchy. So I dressed up as an orc."  
  
Chrissie raised an eyebrow. "So they're looking for orcs. They want to kill orcs. So you dress up as an orc."  
  
Kelly nodded. "Yeah." Noticing Chrissie's puzzled face she added, "My logic, remember? I'm alive aren't I?"  
  
"Barely." Mark added irritably. He still wasn't happy about her giving away the fellowship and killing an Elf. He still had issues to resolve before he would speak to her again nicely.  
  
"Oh hello Mark. Nice to see you again too." She looked at his Elven clothing. She'd obviously hit a nerve somewhere along the line.  
  
"So where's the meeting?" Fred asked, trying to break up the obvious tension between the others.  
  
"Here, tomorrow at dusk." Kelly began as she ripped some strips from the bottom of her cloak. Although her hand had obviously stopped bleeding some time ago, she decided to bandage it anyway.  
  
"Here? We thought we were safe here, out of the way and all." Fred said, obviously not liking the fact the sect was returning here.  
  
"I told you to wait on the western bank, which would have been out of the way, but did you listen to me? Absolutely not." Kelly mumbled off. She knew she should have crossed to the eastern shore, orcs be damned. She wasn't scared of no stupid orcs.  
  
Kelly ripped off another strip from her cloak, longer this time.  
  
"You're not going to have any cloak left soon, you know." Chrissie said sarcastically.  
  
Kelly looked up and laughed. "Never mind." She felt down her back for the knife wound. Just as she'd thought, her little escapade had broken most of the stitches and the damn thing was bleeding again.  
  
Kelly cursed out loud in a way she learned from the sect. Fred raised an eyebrow.  
  
"That's not very nice you know." She said quietly.  
  
Kelly grunted as she added some more padding to the wound and tightened the bandage.  
  
"Let's get planning then folks, we don't have much time."  
  
***  
  
Fred had constructed a miniature model of the island when Kelly got back, made out of twigs and fir cones. Kelly had gone to check where the guards were, if any patrols were moving this way. Thankfully they seemed to have gone back to Osgiliath. There was also no sign of Canetha.  
  
Kelly dropped some pebbles by the side of the longest twig, meant to represent the river. "Osgiliath is here."  
  
She dropped some small kindling on the east bank of the river, opposite Cair Andras. "The sect will cross here."  
  
"But there's orcs on that side." Mark said. "Why would they risk that?"  
  
Kelly smiled. "We have no fear of orcs. We are all instruments of the same master, and puppets do not destroy each other."  
  
Mark frowned as he realised the implication of that statement.  
  
Fred frowned when Kelly spoke of the sect as 'we'. No matter what they had done to her and made her do, she still thought of herself as a part of them. She thought about saying something, but she doubted it would do anything, make her think any differently. She'd been a part of it too long.  
  
***  
  
Kelly sat in one of the trees on the island, admiring the beauty of Middle Earth. Any respectable brother would be here at least half a day before to check the perimeters, check for intruders or spies. She yawned and nearly fell out of the tree, but luckily balance came easily to her as she shifted her weight on the branch.  
  
She could see no-one in any direction; at least no one outside of Osgiliath. She hadn't slept at all that night, not wanting to risk not seeing them arrive. Today was the day when she would end the threat to Frodo.  
  
She hadn't told them anything of what she planned to do, just that they should leave the island as soon as possible. She'd climbed the tree soon after those final words, seeing the look in Fred's eyes was more than enough reason to retreat. She knew what Fred thought of her and even though she knew it would never change, she didn't want to be around to experience it first hand.  
  
Fred had been just about to launch into her 'you're not a member' speech and cry look what they're done to you every two minutes. Even though she'd made so many mistakes since her arrival seven weeks ago, she wouldn't change any of them. She liked what she had become; strong, powerful and someone who could really kick ass. She didn't ever want that to change.  
  
Before she'd come to Middle Earth, she'd been weak and just another face in the crowd. She'd been the quiet one, the one who kept to herself in lessons and never did much. Sure she'd done expeditions and jumped out of planes and such, but that was only out of boredom. She'd changed so much and for the first time in her life, she was proud of herself, at least for some stuff.  
  
Kelly didn't really expect them to leave, knowing how stubborn they could be, but at least she'd tried. And in truth at the time she hadn't known, but staying awake through the night had left her many hours to think on it.  
  
She could leave the sect in tact; just kill Canetha and leave before they ever arrived. However, what she had wondered was what if the reason why there was nothing about the sect in Lord of the Rings was that it had been destroyed?  
  
If she could somehow trap Canetha and the sect from Minas Tirith, then she could end it here and now. The training centre in Edoras had disbanded after Ordon and the Old Man had died. She'd been told the people there had gone home, which was nice.  
  
There weren't actually that many sects, only in the major cities and she knew for a fact the Minas Tirith one was the largest. If she could take out this one, there would only be a few individuals dotted around Middle Earth and those residing inside Mordor.  
  
She could only think of one way to eliminate them all in one sweep. Hand to hand combat was out, and similarly using a bow. She might take out two or three, but seventeen was out of the question. Thinking back to the way she'd killed Ordon had given her inspiration.  
  
Morally, she knew it was wrong. She'd already killed one innocent and two not so innocent people, could she really live with herself if that number rose to twenty?  
  
***  
  
The conclusion she'd come to was at the end of the day, the people of Middle Earth were at war with Sauron. War was not about individual people, their morals and emotional baggage, but about people as a race fighting for what they believed in for a better end.  
  
The only thing that stood between her and that end were the three people that sat quietly on the ground beneath her, most probably plotting how to capture her again. She needed something to keep the sect and Canetha all in one place, something that would distract them whilst she readied herself. In other words, she needed bait.  
  
"Could I do it?" She asked herself quietly. Could she really go through with what she had now planned and betray them again? Could she really watch them die, seeing the whites of their eyes tremble in disbelief as they were consumed by the flames?  
  
Thousands of people might live after her actions, all for the sacrifice of three. Four, she corrected herself; it was not likely she'd survive this herself.  
  
She looked back to the horizon and noticed a lone figure running cautiously up the eastern riverbank.  
  
"So it begins." 


	12. CHAPTER TWELVE : BETRAYAL

CHAPTER TWELVE - BETRAYAL  
  
Fred sat with her head in her hands next to Chrissie, who was in much the same position. Something was going to happen; she could feel it. That electricity crackling in the air, the calm before the storm. All three of them had slept through the night, content that no one would try to cross the river overnight. They hoped.  
  
They had talked long after waking that morning, every so often glancing anxiously into the treetops, expecting Kelly to put in an appearance sometime. She'd hadn't said much about her 'plan', but her lack of words only made them feel all the worse. But she hadn't appeared through out the morning and it was nearly late afternoon now. What worried them the most was that just because they couldn't see her, did not necessarily mean she wasn't there.  
  
"Do you think she's ever going to come down from there?" Chrissie said impatiently, tapping her foot.  
  
Fred sighed. "I don't think so. But I'll wager you anything she's come up with a plan in her absence and doesn't want to tell us about it. She probably thinks it's too dangerous and suicidal, which undoubtedly it is, but that's not the point."  
  
Chrissie nodded. Kelly had always been good at chess, which was strange given her erratic nature. Yet the thing that worried her most was that she didn't know how expendable they were in the scheme of things.  
  
Mark sat in silence. Ever since learning she had killed an Elf, he hadn't trusted her. He was scared of what she might do. He'd only seen her briefly since arriving and what he'd seen had scared him to death.  
  
***  
  
Kelly scooted around the clearing, carefully cutting large wedges from the bases of the trees around the clearing. Satisfied, she admired her work. Canetha would arrive any minute and she had one last thing to prepare before he did. She expected the sect to arrive soon after him and there was no time to lose.  
  
***  
  
Fred turned around first, hearing the slight whoosh of air as Kelly jumped down from one of the lower branches.  
  
"Kelly, where have." She stopped in mid-sentence as she saw what Kelly was wearing. She was in assassin garb, the clothing tight and black for maximum movement and camouflage. It was the clothes of the brotherhood and also the clothes of battle. Her face and arms were tattooed with war paint and although she didn't understand the words, Fred had a feeling it wasn't poetry.  
  
Kelly raised the bow she'd made from a slip of ash and pointed it towards Mark. She fired the arrow and hit him square in the centre of the head.  
  
"I hope one day someone will understand the reasons for my actions." Kelly said quietly as she notched another arrow, this time pointing it at Chrissie. Fred noticed the way each arrow had a flattened point and had a large blob of something green and sticky on the end.  
  
Kelly fired, trying not to see the betrayal in Fred's eyes.  
  
"Kelly what's going on? What are you doing? The sect will be here soon and we'll be defenceless, they'll kill us." Fred stopped, seeing the expression on Kelly's face. The cold unreadable mask of calm; that was what she wanted to happen.  
  
Fred stood as still as a statue as the final arrow hit, in the centre of her forehead, sending her to the ground.  
  
Kelly walked towards the three unconscious bodies and dragged them one by one into the centre of the clearing. She tied them together with rope she found in one of the bags. It was a good deal stronger than the bindweed that she had been planning to use.  
  
As she heard footsteps approach, she picked up several long stakes of wood from the ground and some tinder stones. She escaped into the trees and waited for her plans to bear fruit.  
  
***  
  
Duin-Shiel grunted as he felt torrential rain begin over his head. He'd only laid down to sleep several minutes ago and already it seemed like there would be no rest tonight. Upon arriving in Minas Tirith this afternoon, he had found no trace of any of them. He'd heard of a break out at the jail only a few days past and assumed it must have been them.  
  
He turned tiredly around to find his horse, but was greeted with an arrow. Stepping back and quickly raising his hands, he tried to study his captor.  
  
"I've been digging this hole all fricking afternoon and the least you can do Elf, is make use of it." The person shouted, the rain pouring down hard enough to even let him distinguish whether the person was male or female.  
  
Slowly being pushed back by the point of the arrow, Duin-Shiel didn't realise what was happening until too late. Feeling the edge of the ground fall away beneath him, he fell down into the darkness.  
  
Scrambling to his feet and looking up towards the single torch burning over him, he found a perspective of exactly how far he was down. Water ran in down the sides of the hole from the rainstorm, making it entirely impossible to climb out. The water level was slowly rising around him and although at first he thought the dirt raining down on him was merely the sides collapsing in on him, he soon realised otherwise.  
  
He was in hole and someone was filling it in. He was being buried alive and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.  
  
"I'm sorry I couldn't get to you, Chrissie," he mumbled as a large clod of earth hit him on the back of the head. He fell to the floor, barely conscious.  
  
He could feel the weight on his chest mounting and the cold damp eating into his bones. He cried out in pain as another clod hit him across the stomach. He tried to raise his hands and push the dirt away, but his limbs just weren't responding to his commands. His mind was growing foggy and his vision blurred.  
  
He opened his eyes in time to see a large clod of earth heading for his face, in time to see the sharp flints and stones embedded within the tightly packed ball. He saw it in time to whisper four final words before his impending death.  
  
"I love you, Chrissie."  
  
***  
  
Chrissie woke up feeling extremely dizzy, although that feeling soon turned to fury when she realised where she was and who had put her there.  
  
"Fred? Are you alright? Mark?" She twisted to try and see if they were okay, but as they tied together, it was very difficult.  
  
The others grunted groggily in reply.  
  
"So, you're awake now. That's useful." A deep voice said from the far side of the clearing.  
  
They all struggled to turn and see where the voice was coming from, but as soon as one person moved the others moved in the opposite direction. When they realised he was concealed in the early evening shadows, they stopped fighting.  
  
"Who are you?" Fred said in a wavering voice, trying to sound confident and unafraid. Unfortunately, she failed miserably and laughter seemed to echo from all directions.  
  
"I think you know who I am already. Some people know me as Canetha."  
  
Chrissie gasped at that name and panic rose up within her. They were trapped with a man of the sect, put there by the only person who might have had any chance against him. They were trapped there with a stranger who might well torture and kill them; and he knew how to kill Frodo.  
  
***  
  
Canetha looked at each one of them in turn, remembering Kelly's descriptions of their weaknesses and insecurities.  
  
"Do you know who did this to you? Who captured you under your very noses? Who was above your suspicions?"  
  
"Kelly." Chrissie hissed out under her breath. She couldn't believe Kelly could do this to them, after everything they'd been through.  
  
"Yes. Did you really think someone could go through the selection process and retain their personality? Retain the person they were before they were changed? Retain any of their previous loyalties Did she tell you how we met? How I held her in my arms as she cried back in Edoras after her streaming and testing. How she told me everything she knew about Middle Earth without hesitation, even before she told Ordon. She was at her most vulnerable then and I took full advantage of that, tying her loyalty firmly to me."  
  
Chrissie and Fred were completely overwhelmed. Did that mean that Kelly had been scheming with this man since near the beginning, the better part of five weeks scheming against them? But to what end?  
  
Chrissie thought of that moment in jail in Minas Tirith when Kelly had opened her heart for a few moments and told her of her time at Edoras. Was that all just a lie to get them into captivity? Was everything that Kelly had said and done here a lie?  
  
Fred thought back to when she'd first seen Kelly fighting for their freedom, the look of determination she'd seen on her face. The way she'd spun her blades around in sheer fury of what had been done to them. Had it all been an act? A ploy?  
  
But even in that moment, Fred had suspicions. If all Kelly wanted was their deaths, or even torture, there had been numerous times in the past when she could have done it and none been there to stop her. Why the elaborate chase around Middle Earth?  
  
"She knew you both back to front, knew how you would react to a situation. She said she'd fooled you many times back at your home, the place you call Earth and would have no trouble doing it again. It seems she was right. She knows your secrets, your strengths.and your weaknesses."  
  
The man smirked at them, loving this opportunity to brag and gloat about his involvement.  
  
The three captives were shocked beyond words.  
  
"Did you think she'd changed? That she wasn't affected by her torture and had become a champion of the light? I can't believe you were so gullible. She'll never change, not ever."  
  
He turned his stare to Chrissie. "And your Elf, this Duin-Shiel. She knew about him too and since he knew everything, he counted as a threat to us. He came back for you, you know. But she intercepted him only a few miles north-west of here. Middle Earth is free of one less Elf. Would you like to know how he screamed whilst we buried him alive, how he shouted in fury and cried like a baby? How he begged us to kill him if only we would spare you? Thought so."  
  
He laughed until he thought his sides would fall apart, but still he laughed. He laughed at the irony of this situation and laughed at their gullibility. He laughed at the hysterical tears that washed down Chrissie's face and the ones threatening in Fred's. He laughed at the ferocity in Mark's face and his hopeless glances at the sack in the corner.  
  
When he had quieted, he continued. "Dusk grows close and with it the sect of Minas Tirith. They were always famous for their cruelty, even compared to me. I wonder what they will do to you when they find you here, alone and vulnerable?"  
  
Canetha walked away, the smile still plastered to his face. He turned away from them and watched the sunset. No doubt there would be a great feast celebrating their victory tonight. He expected Kelly was up in the trees somewhere, looking out for the sect. He was excited to see her, but he could wait. If things went to plan for them, they had the rest of their lives together.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie: I thought it was a great trick actually, just the kind of thing Kelly would do.  
  
Tbiris: Yeah, poor Duin-Shiel. I mean he rides all across Middle Earth and they aren't even there and Chrissie still thought he was in the Undying Lands until about five minutes ago.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Thanks, good to hear you're enjoying the story.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: You might take orders from me if it was for your own good and you knew it. Maybe. Like next century sometime. Chrissie's face would be like absolutely priceless.  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: Maybe, maybe not, it depends on how much you bully me. Since you're kinda *tied up* at the moment (are you impressed with my pun?) it's not gonna be that soon.  
  
Chrissie: You're obsessed with him, aren't you? If you cared about him that much and couldn't live without him, why did you send him away for pity's sake?  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: I love Kelly too, she's great. She's so easy to write about since I just base everything about her on the real Kelly. Hey presto, one crazy and zany character.  
  
Chrissie: You would so use Kelly as bait, you'd just love every minute of it. As for Fred, well she is a fellow torturer, so I'll bet she'd probably do it as well. Glad you like my suffering.  
  
Tbiris: This is only the beginning.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: I know the feeling. At first you think the answer's obvious, three people vs. the entire population of Middle Earth. Then you sort of think, well, what if they had some important destiny to follow, some path they were meant to tread to change other events of a similar scale. The knock on affect could be huge, if you know what I mean.Damn I'm babbling again. Thanks anyway. 


	13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN : VISITOR

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - VISITOR  
  
Kelly watched from her perch in trees as he tormented Chrissie, Fred and Mark. She could see the sect coming if she turned her head east. They were perhaps five minutes away.  
  
Tears filled her eyes as he talked. She hadn't known that Canetha was him, she'd known him only as Damien, just another candidate preparing for their testing. Tears fell as he spoke to them, but sure enough, anger soon filled what space they had left. There was some truth in his words, she had indeed met him in Edoras and had a fling with him, but no more. She hadn't seen him since he'd gone for his testing and had presumed him dead. She'd mourned him and what could have been, but that had been nearly two months ago. It hurt her now that he could lie like that to her friends, and have them believe him.  
  
She had changed and had regretted her decision. She remembered little of her torture and had not known she'd spilled the beans so early. Otherwise it wouldn't have been so hard for her to tell Ordon. She hated the way they seemed to believe him when he told them she had been planning their demise for weeks. Anger boiled inside when he spoke of Duin-Shiel. She certainly hadn't killed him, for that moment she would savour for many years. She hadn't forgotten her vow to Karth, just postponed it.  
  
She could hear the sect coming through the woods now and soon enough they entered the clearing as well and quickly circled the captives. They began taunting them, taking several knives from the belts and boots. They made small cuts across elbows and knees, cheekbones and arms. But enough was enough. If they had to die today, then they would, but not like that.  
  
Kelly climbed down into the lower branches and began the final stages of her plan. She hoped someday someone might understand what it was she was doing, because right now forgiveness seemed like too much to wish for.  
  
She cut through the final sections of the first tree, and gave it a shove. Sure enough, it creaked a bit then fell forwards onto the next tree, pushing it enough in turn to topple over and so on.  
  
Soon the sect, Canetha and her friends were trapped within a fifteen foot high wall of wood. She was lucky they'd chosen an island with trees on it that had really thick trunks.  
  
She struck her tinder stones together and lit her torch. Surprisingly for an island, the wood here was incredibly dry. She stepped up onto the outer ring of wood, high above the faces of those that soon heard the burning sound of her torch.  
  
She saw the look of betrayal on her friend's faces and the look of shock on the members of the sect. Canetha's face was a mix of emotions, but then again he always was unreadable. If he was expecting her to pity him, to remember the times they'd shared together, he was looking in the wrong place. All she felt was fury and hate for him.  
  
She touched her torch against one of the smaller branches entwined around a trunk. It sparked a little then flared. She walked around the circle, every so often lighting a stick or branch. Soon enough, everyone was trapped in an inferno, the air growing hotter by the minute.  
  
"I'm sorry, but it has to end here. This rein of terror has to finish. The Fellowship cannot be allowed to die." She mouthed softly to her friends. She sat in one of higher branches of a nearby tree to watch their final minutes. She'd been born a pyrotechnic and couldn't bear to miss what might be the finest of her life. She could have escaped from that island then and been a free person, but thinking on it, she had nothing to go back to. Her entire life purpose was here.  
  
Her friends started shouting, saying that it didn't have to be this way. It did she answered silently. She had to get rid of those who threatened the Fellowship. She couldn't let anything happen to the Fellowship who she'd so easily threatened, so long ago.  
  
The smoke floated up through the branches and she was not surprised when random images began appearing before her eyes, thinking it smoke inhalation. However, when Lady Galadriel appeared, she nearly fell out of the tree. If she was dreaming, she would not be dreaming of her.  
  
"You've done a very brave thing here, something not many people would or could have done. But Kelly, not everyone here deserves to die."  
  
Kelly nodded, trying to comprehend how exactly Galadriel had managed to project herself here, if indeed it was her and not some projection of her conscience.  
  
"I know. I would have used myself as bait but I didn't think I could hold them there and cut down the trees. I didn't want it to be this way but I had no choice. The Fellowship cannot be massacred."  
  
Galadriel smiled. "I'm glad you think that. But those innocents down there; your friends have other destinies to follow, other paths to tread. You can save them Kelly, if you are prepared to try."  
  
Tears filled Kelly's eyes. "But I might survive then and I don't deserve that after everything I've done. I've killed; and enjoyed the thrill of doing it. I might keep doing it. How can I live with myself knowing what I've done?"  
  
"Because you have to. And right now there are people down there who need your help. Go. Now." Galadriel's voice had a tone of command to it, clearly leaving no space for questions.  
  
Kelly wiped her eyes and climbed slowly down into the smoke. She still had several coils of rope with her. She looked down into the mists. She couldn't see a damned thing.  
  
Tearing her cloak into four strips, she tied one over her own mouth and nose and stuffed the others in her pocket. She had work to do.  
  
Tying one end of the rope to a high tree branch, she shimmied down quietly and tied one of the strips around what looked like Fred's face. Untying her bonds, she span her around quickly, whilst holding a finger to her mouth. Luckily, Fred seemed to understand.  
  
Kelly leaned by her ear. "Climb up the rope and into the trees. Head away from the setting sun."  
  
For a moment they just looked at each other. Would Fred trust Kelly after all that had happened?  
  
Fred looked into Kelly's eyes and tried to tell if this was another betrayal. She found what she was looking for: hope.  
  
Fred grasped the rope and started trying to pull herself up. Kelly turned away and started looking for Chrissie and Mark. She tied a strip around Chrissie and Mark's heads, then tried to tell them the same thing. Kelly thought they might not believe her until she pointed at Fred already half way up.  
  
"Hurry, they're going to see sooner or later."  
  
Mark went up after Fred, obviously more used to climbing rope than the others as he made quick work of it and was soon at the top. Chrissie went up next, not completely sure she should be trusting Kelly, but choosing between that and the fire, it wasn't that hard to choose.  
  
Kelly was about to follow when she felt a knife at her throat. Turning slowly and feeling the knife retain it's position, she wasn't surprised at all to see Damien. For a moment they just looked at each other, neither knowing what to say.  
  
"I should just kill you now after your betrayal." Damien/Canetha said in a whisper, wary of the other sect members wandering blindly around.  
  
Kelly tried to hate him, she really did. She thought of what he'd done to her friends, how he'd teased them unmercifully and what he'd said about Duin-Shiel. Which knowing him was undoubtedly a lie.  
  
Kelly looked into his eyes, willing him to do it. She didn't want to survive this, she'd told Galadriel as much and she'd meant it. "You know why I did it." She said, watching as he lower the knife. She glanced back at the rope.  
  
It was getting seriously hot in here and Kelly's eyes were beginning to blur, even under her temporary tie. They wouldn't survive here much longer.  
  
"Up the rope, now. I'll deal with you myself." He ushered her towards the rope and gave her a shove to go first. She took a handful of the rope and pulled herself up, wary of the weight beneath her. She wasn't sure whether he was going to stab her in the back.  
  
She sat up on the top branch and looked around. She was glad to see the others had heeded her words and stayed near the river.  
  
She looked down to see Damien climbing up the rope steadily, but she also saw a stray branch set alight the rope at the bottom. She began to pull up the rope and noticed Damien was looking up at her. She had another choice to make. On one hand, she could cut the rope now, cutting off any danger there might be of the fire spreading up the rope and into the surrounding forest. On the other hand, she could let him climb up, let him live, even after his previous actions.  
  
She tried to steel her resolve. The whole reason she'd come here in the first place was to kill him and if he survived, the Fellowship would never be safe. But, she asked herself, would she ever find anyone else like him? The times they'd shared in Edoras flashed through her mind, he'd looked after her when she'd needed it, even though she doubted she'd ever admit that to anyone. Could she really add him to her list of victims? Would she be alone all her life?  
  
Cursing herself for being so stupid and gullible, she began pulling up the rope faster and shouted down for him to climb quicker. She pulled him over the edge as he began cursing about his hot feet. When they were both sat on the branch together, she grabbed him by the shoulders.  
  
"Those people down there by the river are my friends. Do you hear me? Lay one finger on them and I will personally ensure that your organs are removed one by one! Don't make me regret my choice to keep you alive, but understand you are on probation. Put a foot wrong and I'll gladly rectify the situation." She shook him hard as she talked, trying to shake some sense into him, and hopefully herself as well.  
  
Unfortunately, they ended up hugging.  
  
"I thought you were dead." Kelly mumbled.  
  
"Don't make me regret my decision either." He said to her quietly. "But I love it when you threaten me." He said with a grin on his face.  
  
"You!" Kelly gave him a shove and almost pushed him out the tree. "Men, you are all so."  
  
"Irresistible, charming and attractive?" He answered for her.  
  
Kelly smiled slightly. "Well, we'll see about that. You have a lot of explaining to do when we get down from here. You owe me for not letting your arse burn down there."  
  
Kelly swung down from the top branch and soon landed softly on the ground. She felt a warm heat on her back and discovered her stitches had broken again. Damn those things.  
  
Fred, Chrissie and Mark were stood together by the water, almost smiling at her.  
  
When Damien landed behind her, they were not smiling anymore.  
  
"So it's true." Fred breathed softly.  
  
Kelly gulped. "It's true that we met whilst I was in Edoras, but it's not true that we're been conspiring ever since. I left the sect for a reason and that was to leave behind all that black torture and deceit. I did not know that Damien was also known as Canetha."  
  
Chrissie felt somewhat sympathetic for Kelly. If she were in her position, she might well have saved Duin-Shiel, whatever he had done.  
  
"Is Duin-Shiel really dead?" She asked.  
  
Kelly looked blankly at Damien. "I haven't done anything to Duin-Shiel, as much as I might have liked to." She glanced to Damien for confirmation. "We have no idea where he is."  
  
Chrissie looked at them suspiciously. "Why did you tell us all those things?"  
  
Kelly poked the silent Damien in the ribs. "Come on speak up, you foul excuse for a corpse. You owe them an explanation and your apologies. "  
  
Damien smiled slightly. "I did exaggerate somewhat about things that I knew would upset you. It's true Kelly did say rather more than she'd thought back in Edoras, but I haven't actually spoke to her since. Ordon sent me to trail her, but I didn't arrange anything I said I did.  
  
It was just a bit of verbal torture, the conspiracy theory I think you call it. It's just the adrenaline rush you get when you know you've got someone completely under your control, that you can do anything with them and they can't stop you. Right Kelly?"  
  
Kelly glared at him and punched him sharply on the arm.  
  
Chrissie looked at Fred, then at Mark. "Do you honestly expect us to believe that? You tried to kill us."  
  
"But how many times have other things tried to kill you? I don't think I'm quite up there with the amount of times orcs have tried to kill you, or spiders or goblins." Kelly answered smoothly.  
  
"How do we know you won't try it again?" Fred asked, still seeming intimidated by the situation.  
  
"Well he's all words, just a load of hot air. He'd never actually carry out any of his threats, he's just a fledgling. As for me, well you never know what circumstances might require." Kelly smiled mischeviously.  
  
Fred seemed to consider that.  
  
Damien frowned. "Alright my ego just hit rock bottom." He muttered to himself.  
  
"So what are we going to do now?" Mark asked impatiently. He wasn't even going to consider forgiving Kelly, let alone that Canetha/Damien guy, so he wasn't even going to think about it.  
  
Kelly looked up at him and saw the distrust in his eyes. "Well I think our best hope of getting home is in Lothlorien, with the Council of the Elves. They are the wisest in Middle Earth and if anyone knows, it would be them."  
  
Fred and Chrissie exchanged glances. "Is he coming?"  
  
Kelly shrugged and turned to him. He motioned towards the western shore.  
  
Kelly looked back at Chrissie and Fred. "Maybe, he has yet to redeem himself. In the mean time, we should get off this island. I don't really want to be here when the vultures start picking their bodies."  
  
She looked downriver. There were no guards on the western bank and that was where they needed to be if they were going to Lothlorien. She stepped into the waters and dived straight under, knowing if she stopped and thought about it, she'd never go through with it.  
  
Within minutes she was on the west bank, gasping for breath again as usual. She sat and watched Damien then Mark, Chrissie and Fred clear the water. She also noticed that they'd brought their horses with them.  
  
They all settled down, making it obvious they were going to camp now, not wanting to go any further tonight.  
  
Kelly got up and dragged Damien away from the others.  
  
"We have a lot to talk about. Now." She made it clear he had no choice about this.  
  
She waved to Fred and Chrissie, not even glancing at Mark. She didn't want to know what he thought of her at the moment, she had enough trouble in thinking about what she thought of herself.  
  
When she'd gone what seemed a suitable distance from the others, she slapped him hard across the face and grabbed him by the throat.  
  
"How could you do that to me, Damien? Trail after me whilst you did nothing. Do I mean that little to you, that you could let me think you dead? Did those nights in Edoras mean nothing?" Kelly was visibly fuming. She hadn't thought he'd survived his own trials, since his had been directly after hers.  
  
"Aren't you going to say something?" She yelled at him. He gasped and mumbled something, then she realised why he couldn't say anything. She dropped him and watched with a slight sadistic pleasure as he led breathless on the floor.  
  
"I.was ordered.not to intercept you.To watch you.and see if you were indeed worthy. After I heard about your trials in.Minas Tirith, I decided to find you and tell you the truth. By the time I reached it, you'd already left. I was only playing with your friends, I never would have hurt them. Although you certainly had me going for a while, I thought you really meant to kill all of us."  
  
Kelly stared into his eyes, just looking for any sign of lying or excuse to kill him, but found none. She was seriously considering forgiving him for everything, for once just trusting in someone without suspicion or limitations.  
  
"I did." She murmured as he stood up before her.  
  
"So why didn't you? Nothing was stopping you." He answered.  
  
She glanced off into the night. "Because she asked me not to." Seeing his puzzled expression, she added, "Lady Galadriel."  
  
"When did you see her? Here? I don't understand." Damien looked extremely puzzled.  
  
"Neither do I, mellon nin, neither do I." Kelly cursed under her breath the way she seemed to slip into Elvish when she thought of the Elves.  
  
Damien seemed to sense that she wasn't going to elaborate any further.  
  
"Kelly, you do know we can't go into Lothlorien don't you?"  
  
Kelly smiled. "Do you even want to go? I mean why would you want to got there of all places? You have your whole life ahead of you. Swear to me you'll never mention anything we talked about again and I just might believe you. You can leave anytime you choose."  
  
Damien moved a little closer, still slightly wary she might attack him at any moment. But then again, any healthy relationship had a relative amount of fear in it, so he wasn't too worried.  
  
"I'm only leaving with you, I think perhaps I still need to work on that left hook with you." He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "When you helped me up back there, nobody's ever done that before, you know, look out for me. Even after I threatened you with the knife and had a go at your friends."  
  
Kelly smiled. "Yeah but did you really think you had a chance of hurting me with poor excuse for a blade? I think not somehow, I was just playing along."  
  
Damien laughed, at least things were back to some shred of normalcy.  
  
***  
  
Damien smiled as they hugged. He'd thought he would lose her after telling her the truth, but he hadn't. He didn't know why she liked him, but at the end of the day, he didn't care.  
  
Kelly tensed at the sound at the sound of a twig snapping.  
  
"We'd better get back to camp. I want to be well away from this place as soon as possible."  
  
They walked back to camp, trying not to be too silent so as not to disturb their companions. Kelly tensed again as she felt another stitch loosen. Kelly swore at the thing and glared at Damien for daring to be amused at her swearing.  
  
She added another bandage on top of the first, just hoping for the best mainly. She lay down to sleep, not really surprised when Damien led down next to her. She was neither surprised by the fact that the others led down some distance from them.  
  
She wondered if that were just distance from him, or distance from her as well. Tonight she had shown that she still thought like an assassin, still acted liked one and lived as one. Damien had been right when he'd said nobody could go through the selection unchanged, but she decided he was wrong in saying that you didn't retain your personality.  
  
You were always different afterwards, but you were still the same person. She wondered if they hated her, feared her or just didn't understand her. She snuggled deeper down into what was left of her cloak and realised she would probably never find out. 


	14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN : DISCOURAGED

A/N: Wow, long chapter! ;) Hope it was worth the wait, despite the sappiness.  
  
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - DISCOURAGED  
  
Chrissie was the first to wake the following day, which was quite unusual really. Almost instantly, she woke Fred. Within half an hour, the horses were saddled and ready to go. Kelly and Damien had not seemed put off by walking all the way, in fact they seemed rather happy about it.  
  
They walked along in conversation, although it was clear to see Damien had several bruises around his neck, which made Chrissie wonder exactly what Kelly had done to him last night. The fact they were always together made her miss Duin-Shiel even more.  
  
Chrissie was still wary of Damien, especially after what he'd said about Duin-Shiel. She'd had nightmares all last night about finding him dead somewhere and so was very irritable this morning. She hoped no one crossed her.  
  
They set off at a reasonable pace. Fred had measured how far it was roughly on their map and it seemed it was going to take them at least a week, if not more. Chrissie had frowned at the time and felt like sulking. Although she wanted to go home, spending a whole week with Kelly and Damien didn't seem at all attractive.  
  
***  
  
Mat leant back against the tree trunk and sighed. It had been a nice evening so far, and now that the shadows were drawing in, he was just about ready to snooze off. He wasn't in the mood to think of his actions the previous night, of how he'd dug that hole and put the Elf in it. Of how he'd buried that Elf alive.  
  
He rubbed the back of his spine and tried to get into a more comfortable position. His orders had been to wait for further instructions, to stay here and just wait. Nervously he glanced over to the pile of disturbed earth, almost afraid the Elf might burst out at any minute.  
  
Laughing at his own anxiety, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the warm breeze. No doubt Connor would be here soon, reliving him of this pointless wait.  
  
Mat turned sharply as he heard a faint rumbling sound. Nervously re- assuring himself that the Elf was indeed dead, he tried to ignore it. Maybe the Great Lord had some greater plan at work, how was he to know, he was merely a slave.  
  
***  
  
Kelly brought her hand up, silently signalling for everyone to halt. She'd been scouting ahead and had heard something much like snoring. Signalling to Damien to remain with Chrissie, Fred and Mark, she circled out in front to the source of the noise.  
  
Tiptoeing forwards, she peeked over a bush to see a young man snoring gently against a tree. A patch of roughly disturbed earth lay only metres away from him. Something clicked in Kelly's mind and she preyed that this was not what she thought it was.  
  
Racing silently towards the man, well a boy really, she grabbed him by the throat and raised him several inches from the ground. Spluttering awake, he stared wide eyed at her. Luckily, for him, he didn't seem to recognise her.  
  
"Tell me your name, fool." Kelly intoned calmly, which she were as calm as her voice.  
  
".M.Mat," he blurted out.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked, keeping her voice level.  
  
The boy's eyes widened at the thought of betraying Lee. A quick flash of steel against his throat soon changed his mind. "I had instructions to bury.bury the Elf. I was to make sure.he was to be definitely dead. Lee was supposed to be coming to relieve me."  
  
The boy panicked when he realised he'd blurted out the source of his orders.  
  
"And when did you do this?"  
  
The boy tried to squirm free, but only succeeded in Kelly tightening her grip on his throat.  
  
"Yesterday night." He squeaked.  
  
Kelly dropped him, thinking about whether to slit his throat or not. He couldn't be more than fourteen, but then again, he had murdered an Elf. And that Elf might well be Duin-Shiel.  
  
She approached the disturbed square of earth and noticed a spade not far away. Damien approached from behind her.  
  
"Tell the others to make camp where they are. Stay with them and ensure that none of them, especially not Chrissie, come anywhere near this place."  
  
Damien nodded, seeing that she had that stubborn look on her face that said she wasn't taking any questions on this.  
  
Kelly pushed the spade firmly into the soil and began digging.  
  
***  
  
Moonlight shone down on her through the night, thankfully helping her see the dense blackness around her. The hole was fairly wide, at least four or five feet and by the look of things, extremely deep. Carefully tying a rope around a nearby tree and dangling it over the side of the hole ensured she wasn't about to get stuck down there.  
  
She dug as quick as she could. After her initial questioning of Mat, he'd also revealed the hole had been about fifteen feet down. Looking back to the surface, she had at least five more feet to go.  
  
When her spade hit something soft and came back bloodied, she tossed it aside and began digging with her hands. A body shape began to emerge beneath the earth, revealing once golden locks of hair matted in soil and water around it's face.  
  
She brushed off the last of the dirt and looked at the body, carefully taking in the sharp features, the clothing already beginning to rot in this moist environment, the deep scar on his right hand where it looked as if an arrow or blade had been pushed through. It was indeed Duin-Shiel.  
  
Feeling stupid, but knowing she had to do it for her own piece of mind, she felt for a pulse. She waited for several moments, hoping against hope she would feel something. Finally she stood up, accepting he was dead.  
  
She climbed slowly back up the rope and sat on the edge of the hole. She had wanted to kill him, had dreamed of doing it to avenge Karth. And now he was dead, just like that. Shaking herself, she realised there were more important things to do now. Like breaking the news to Chrissie that the love of her life was dead.  
  
***  
  
Kelly tiptoed across to the campsite and assessed the situation. She'd filled in most of the hole again, not wanting Chrissie to see Duin-Shiel in that condition. Chrissie and Fred sat playing stones on the other side of the campfire, obviously something they'd learned from the Elves. By the look of Chrissie's face, Fred was winning again.  
  
Damien was lounged across the floor, half asleep by the look of it. Some watch he stood. Mark eyed the night around him carefully, as if expecting something terrible to jump out at him at any time. It was a good attitude to have.  
  
She circled back around, stopping to stare at Mat as she went past. He sat wide awake, looking up at her with wide eyes.  
  
"I remember who you are, traitor." He whispered, spitting the word out. "You were once spoken of with respect amongst my brothers, but now I see that you have sided with men. And elves."  
  
Kelly grimaced, cursing him for having brains.  
  
"You act like one of us and speak like one of us. Hell, you even curse like one of us. Why did you betray us?" His voice rose as he began to shout.  
  
Kelly looked quickly around. Damien would have heard that and probably Mark as well. They would be here soon to see what was going on.  
  
"Because they are my friends and I cannot abandon them." She muttered, drawing a knife from her belt. In one fluid movement she stepped forward and plunged the knife into his chest, feeling the blade scrape between his ribs.  
  
"You even...kill like one... of us...You are still...one of us..." He stuttered, blood foaming in his mouth.  
  
Kelly pulled her dagger free and stepped back, watching as his body sagged. Her oath to Karth was fulfilled, without killing an Elf. Wiping the blood from her dagger on the back of her trousers, she untied his bonds and let him fall to the ground. At least it looked less like slaughter now.  
  
***  
  
She walked waveringly into the camp and watched Damien leap up and run towards her, obviously noticing her bloodied state.  
  
"Are you alright?" He asked.  
  
"It's not my blood, don't worry." She answered, not breaking stride. Staying a few paces short of the girls, she stopped. Both looked up at her.  
  
"Been fighting with a bramble bush, Kelly?" Fred said, noticing the blood on her, but not really seeming surprised.  
  
"Not exactly, no. Can I speak to you for a moment?" She looked down at Fred and watched her slowly stand up. But Fred did follow her and Damien just out of Chrissie's hearing range.  
  
"Up ahead, where I've been for the last few hours," Kelly began, still not knowing how to word this. Thankfully, Fred seemed to understand and just waited silently. "I found a body. An Elf to be exact."  
  
Fred's hands went to cover her mouth, her lip trembling. It couldn't be him, it just couldn't.  
  
"It was Duin-Shiel." Kelly said, almost hearing her word's effect on Fred. Tears ran down Fred's cheeks. She hadn't loved Duin-Shiel like Chrissie did, but he'd become a part of their group, saving her from the spiders like he did. And now he was gone.  
  
"I know it's selfish, but will you tell Chrissie for me?" Kelly whispered. "She'll think it was me, as much as I would have liked it to have been. It'll be better for her coming from you."  
  
Fred narrowed her eyes at Kelly, thinking that Kelly was just saving herself the trouble. "How did this happen?" She asked, suspicion showing in her voice.  
  
Kelly gulped. "He was murdered, by a member of the sect." Right now, the details didn't seem important. "Don't worry, he won't bother anyone else. I took care of him." She couldn't help but let a smile glimmer on her face, no matter how much she tried to deny it.  
  
***  
  
Damien put a hand on Kelly's shoulder as they watched Fred walk slowly towards Chrissie. They couldn't quite hear what Fred said to her, but when Chrissie began hysterically crying and screaming, it was obvious that the truth had been told.  
  
Kelly turned away, trying not to see the accusing gaze Chrissie was giving her, almost glad she couldn't hear what obscenities Chrissie might be shouting.  
  
She heard Mark get up to see what all the fuss was about and soon even he had a few tears for Duin-Shiel. She could hear him cursing himself, the sect and even her now he rose his voice high enough.  
  
"What did you do with the killer?" Damien asked softly, trying to draw her attention away from the increasingly aggressive Chrissie.  
  
Kelly looked up at him, silently thanking him for his strength at this moment. "I.I just left him there. I.he's just a boy.but he owed me blood." She stopped, watching him study her. "Do you understand? I had to kill him, for Karth."  
  
Damien nodded and silently pushed her away. "I will take care of it. They do not have to see."  
  
Kelly leant back against a tree, not trusting her legs to hold her up. Chrissie was beginning to stop crying, though whether that was from lack of tears or increasing anger, she did not know.  
  
No doubt there would be questions later on, accusations and anecdotes as well. But for now, she would sleep. The world would still be broken in the morning, or afternoon as it would be.  
  
***  
  
Nobody left the campsite that day, whilst Chrissie was shown Duin-Shiel's grave. She cried hard over it, cursing him for leaving and herself for making him do it. She cursed that he wasn't in the Undying Lands beginning a new life and thanked him for coming back for her, even though he hadn't found her. Even though he'd never known just how much she'd loved him; she'd never had a chance to tell him before he'd died.  
  
When morning rose on the following day, the decision was made to make back towards Lothlorien. Or rather Kelly told them to get their arses and stop moping. She was trying to harsh to keep them together, it was only a week to Lothlorien and after that, home.  
  
They walked and rode peacefully for much of that day and two days after that, eating what food they still had from Minas Tirith and drinking from streams and rivers. Chrissie and Fred were somewhat queasy out about it at first, but when they realised they had no choice, they quickly drank as much as the others did.  
  
The occasional argument broke out mostly between Mark and Damien, but Kelly received plenty of evil looks from the other members of the group, especially when she and Damien seemed to be in their own little world. Chrissie grew more distant as she dreamed about Duin-Shiel and how silly she'd been to let him go. No one mentioned his name again, for fear of upsetting Chrissie. The mystery surrounding his death and the exact circumstances of it was left unsaid.  
  
Fred wandered on, thinking about what she was going to say when she met Lady Galadriel. Mark had told them much about her, since he'd been in Lothlorien for a time. Fred felt a little intimidated by the sheer brilliance in which Mark described her. She felt sorry for Chrissie, but didn't know what to do to help.  
  
Mark seemed to grow happier as they drew closer to Lothlorien, but seemed to fly off at Damien more often. He always seemed to be edgy. Fred personally thought it was because of the proximity of the palantir, but there was nothing they could do about that. It was plain he thought that Damien and Kelly had murdered Duin-Shiel between them and hidden it, even though he said not a word. The looks were sufficient.  
  
Kelly strolled along, trying to forget the world around her for the moment. She knew the Elves would kill her on sight and possibly Damien unless she could figure out a way around their laws. Thinking on that, she alone planned her next move, not letting anyone in on her strategy.  
  
***  
  
When they sat down to camp that night, Chrissie decided to hell with it and built a fire anyway. She'd had just about enough cold nights and any orcs could damn well come and find them. When it was burning well, Damien stood up and left.  
  
Fred watched him go, relieved to see him leave.  
  
"Do you have to do that?" Kelly said impatiently. "Frown at him all the time and you're always putting him down. He's really trying to be civil to you, but you have no time for him."  
  
Chrissie snorted. "Well what are we to take example from? We saw the bruises on his neck. If you can't stop fighting with him, why should we?"  
  
Kelly grimaced and glanced behind her. "You're not being fair to him. Chrissie admit it, if that were Duin-Shiel back there, you'd be all over him, no matter what he'd done." An uncomfortable silence settled on the camp. It was the first time anyone had dared bring that up, in case of upsetting Chrissie. But Kelly had had enough of treading quietly.  
  
Chrissie's eyes narrowed in anger. "But he's not though and Duin-Shiel's not an assassin either." She hissed out.  
  
Kelly stood up. "Why is it we can't even talk anymore without fighting about Damien? Why can't you just forget about him? Fred, you're usually so open and forgiving, and Chrissie you're usually.well not like this. Is he really that bad, or are you just exaggerating your feelings?"  
  
Mark grunted and Kelly shot him a sharp look. "I know exactly what you think about him, Mark, so don't even bother speaking."  
  
Kelly picked up her sword belt from the ground and fastened it around her waist. She attached her sword to it and walked away, heading north by what the others could tell.  
  
"But he tried to kill us, Kelly. How can we possibly trust him?" Fred said standing up behind her, almost managing to hold her face calm.  
  
"And so did I, twice now I believe. Do you know why I didn't this last time? It wasn't because I had second thoughts or didn't have the guts, it was because Lady Galadriel asked me not to. If she had not come, I would have done it and we all would have died there that night. I would have died with a clear conscience."  
  
Mark's mouth hung open. How could Galadriel have crossed that distance in such short time. What was going on?  
  
"Why are you protecting him, Kelly?" Chrissie said, standing up to face her.  
  
"Because.I." Kelly stuttered, trying to put into words what she felt for Damien. It wasn't love, yet it was more than just attraction. She fell silent, giving up on words.  
  
"Open up to us, Kelly. Why should we trust him? Why won't you talk to us anymore? You won't talk about your torture, except for a few fever stricken moments in Minas Tirith, you won't talk about Damien, you refuse to mention anything to do with the sect or even how many you've killed. You haven't even told us how you killed Laneth. You won't even tell us what really happened to Duin-Shiel."  
  
Kelly stared at them with cold hard eyes, which softened slightly at the obvious amount of pain reflected from the others. Even Mark had seemed to soften slightly.  
  
"What do you mean what really happened? I told you the truth and I stand by it. But.I will not talk about what happened on any one of those nights, not now and probably not ever. They are locked away within me and there they will stay. They are my burden and shame, and mine alone to bear."  
  
Kelly turned quickly and disappeared into the night, throwing a few last final words over her shoulder.  
  
"I will meet you at the borders of Lothlorien."  
  
Not even a mouse seemed to stir, as those remaining around the campfire sat silently.  
  
***  
  
Damien met her only metres away, but did not ask any questions. She was already on the verge of hysterics and she was glad that it was so damn dark for once. After she'd regained what composure she could muster, she stopped.  
  
"I do not ask you to come with me, Damien. In fact I would rather you went and lived a long happy life. I am turning myself in to the first Elven patrol I find and they may do what they wish with me as I no longer care.  
  
I have no family or home here, friends or possessions. I cannot go back to Earth. I have nothing to live for anymore, except you. All that lies ahead of me is a life of running from the remainders of the sect, running from the Elves and running from myself. Although if I am to die, I may as well put my death to some use. With the Elves' bloodlust sated, they may well send them home."  
  
Damien drew her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "I go where you go, Kelly, even if it is into the jaws of death. If you go to die, then so will I, because I would not care to live alone. Anyway, I'd be bored."  
  
Kelly gave him a playful punch, but the sudden movement made her back twinge.  
  
Damien felt her tense. "Go to sleep. I'll keep watch."  
  
Kelly smiled at him and lay down. Sleep came quickly. She hadn't realised how tired she was.  
  
***  
  
As soon as her breathing slowed and he guessed she was asleep, Damien ran swiftly back to where the others were camped.  
  
He picked up Kelly's cloak where she'd left it and his own, trying to ignore the stares he was receiving.  
  
"What are you doing? Where's Kelly?" Fred said, standing up.  
  
"She's fine, just feeling a little sore after shouting at you all evening. I'm just collecting our things."  
  
Chrissie stood up next to Fred. "Kelly might not see it, but I do. I see what you're really like and I know there was some truth in what you told us that night and we know the truth in some things you didn't tell us.  
  
When Kelly and I were in Minas Tirith, she told me just before she finished her streaming, she hit one of her tormentors across the face. Right side. I wouldn't be surprised if it left a small scar like that one you have on your cheek.  
  
She had not said it, but I saw the similarities between your apparent fabrication and what happened to Duin-Shiel. If it was just your imagination, how did he end up in that exact situation? Or did you really give that order and can't admit it."  
  
Damien self-consciously felt the two-centimetre scar on his right cheek and his cheeks flamed in anger as much as embarrassment.  
  
"Right now she feels just about at the bottom of the world and guess who put her there? You! I did what I had to do, but I never pretended to be something I wasn't. You pretended to be her friends, built up her hopes that she might be accepted by you again, but as soon as she behaves like the person she is, you push her away, put her down.  
  
All she's done is protect you, rescue you when you needed it and guide you towards where you can go home. And how do you repay her? By trying to force her into reliving her worst moments, times when she'd thought she'd failed herself, or worse, you.  
  
She's surrendering you know, to the Elves I mean. She just told me she didn't care any more, and I could see it in her eyes. If she dies, you may as well have killed her yourselves.  
  
She may kill, but always for a reason. Her survival or the survival of those she cares about. I hope your reason is as justified as that."  
  
Damien cast a look of distaste at them and walked away. He should have just left the damn cloaks.  
  
***  
  
Fred and Chrissie slumped to the ground, shocked beyond belief at what they'd just heard. They saw their entire experience in Middle Earth in a whole new light. Whenever they had been with Kelly, she had protected them, come after them under impossible odds. She could well have left them in Minas Tirith to be tortured by Faramir, but she hadn't. She could have saved the Fellowship by herself, but she hadn't.  
  
And what had they done to her in return? They'd bullied her, questioning her in every spare minute about her worst experiences, when not once had she asked them to share theirs.  
  
The one thing that had always kept Kelly going was her hope. That somehow things would be all right. Even in her darkest moments in Minas Tirith when she was near death, she had still had time to spare a few jokes with them.  
  
Fred turned to Chrissie and Mark. "We are turning the tables, Chrissie. It is not us that needs rescuing this time, but her." Chrissie nodded. "Mark, are you with us?"  
  
Mark looked at them, looked at the determination in their eyes. If the Elves caught Kelly, they wouldn't hesitate in killing her.  
  
"She told me this would happen, Galadriel I mean. I saw you both in the cell, saw the exposing of the fellowship. In the final vision, Kelly was presented before the council of the Elves, bound and tied. The news they delivered was not good, I'm afraid." He answered, a measure of sadness in his voice.  
  
Fred clenched her fists. "But that hasn't happened yet, so every moment up until then, we can change it. And we will. Are you with us?"  
  
Fred and Chrissie stood up and held out their hands. Mark smiled and shook. Now that the Fellowship was safe, they had other problems to sort. And they were ready for them.  
  
***  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Thanks! *blushes* Hope you're not too upset by the loss of your "koolies" characters.  
  
Chrissie: If you weren't emotional in that chapter I'm not *that* surprised. If you weren't emotional in this chapter, I definitely will be, I mean the love of your life is DEAD!  
  
Chrissie: Why surprised that I saved you? I mean it's only chapter 13 and there's five more chapter to go. Five more chapters to torture you, who could resist that? Fred will get compensation crumpet.  
  
Hannah: Nifty chapter? Hell yeah. Thanks. Hopefully you now know what is happening with Duin-Shiel.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Hope your questions are answered. Re-reading Ac.1 is always good, but remember lots of stuff i.e. Damien, streaming etc. is not mentioned for creative tension reasons. Explanations for people's loyalties and deeper feelings will be explored in the final few chapters (only four to go!) so just try and wait it out! Thanks! ( 


	15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN : SURRENDER Revised

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - SURRENDER  
  
Kelly's feet seemed to drag as she spotted the grand trees of Lothlorien up ahead. Her and Damien had travelled fast together; she didn't really see any point in delaying her fate. It was as good as set in stone. No self-respecting Elf would let her live after what she'd done. When they grew within a hundred metres of the trees, Kelly paused and looked back once to see dust on the horizon.  
  
She smiled slightly, but it was a worn smile. Her heart seemed to be pounding enough to break her ribs. "Are you sure..."  
  
Damien put a finger to her lips. There was no need for words between them. He didn't completely understand why she was doing this, although he suspected it had something to do with her twisted sense of honour. But he humoured her, if this was what she wanted, he wasn't going to argue with her.  
  
Kelly looked up at the trees looming up in front of her and started the long walk towards them. She stopped when she heard them dismounting and running towards her. She looked back. Chrissie, Fred and Mark were running to her.  
  
"Stop." Kelly held up her hand and surprisingly they heeded her. She almost jumped when she heard a twig snap behind her, probably an Elf come to see what all the noise was about. "I killed Ordon and that Old Man, in cold blood. I killed Laneth as you call him to save my own skin. I killed seventeen innocent people in that fire, they did not know about Frodo or anyone else, yet I killed them anyway. I killed a thirteen-year-old boy several nights ago, for an old blood debt. I can still hear them screaming you know, in here." She pointed casually to her mind.  
  
Kelly looked off into the distance, as if she might still see them.  
  
"Do you know what it's like to have killed someone? To have seen them spot their own demise looming in front of them and see the acceptance in their eyes when they know there's nothing they can do about it. To see the life fading from their eyes and spirit draining from their body? Do you know how hard that is to live with?"   
  
Her face had become heated, but as she realised, she regained her cold composure.  
  
"I'm tired of fighting and I should know. I've been fighting all my life against everything and everyone, even if it hasn't been as physical as these last few weeks. I cannot go back to Earth because of what I am and I will be hunted to the day I die here for what I've done. I'm tired of running, tired of never giving up. It's time for me to accept the consequences of my actions."  
  
A blond haired Elf stepped into view, though still inside the borders of Lothlorien. It was Haldir.  
  
Kelly turned and walked up to him, careful to make sure she crossed over that border.  
  
"I believe you've been looking for me." When the Elf looked puzzled, she added, "A group of your Elves chased me through the countryside just over three weeks ago." She removed the strip of leather covering her tattoo and could feel his repulsion from where she stood.  
  
"You killed Laneth of Lorien." The Elf practically growled out backhanding her across the face. She did not resist. "I should just kill you now and be rid of your foul skin." He said, kicking her to the ground and pressing his knife against her neck.  
  
"I would have you do it, but you would not kill an unarmed woman on your home soil without the word of your lady." Kelly stiffened as he seemed to take pleasure in twisting the knife against her skin, causing a small stream of blood to be released.  
  
"Fine. I'm sure she will have no qualms." He answered, grabbing her collar to bring her to her feet. "Search her." He said, apparently to no one, but soon several similarly dressed Elves appeared out of the trees. They roughly stripped her weapons from her and bound her wrists.  
  
Fred gasped when she noticed her ruby dagger tossed from one of the folds in Kelly's cloak. She had been still under the impression that Faramir had it. She felt betrayed. Kelly had known how much that dagger had meant to her, yet she'd purposefully concealed it from her. That hurt much more than anything else Kelly had done to her.  
  
The Elf pushed her further in the woods and started walking, only a step behind her, triumph showing clearly in his face.  
  
"If you wish you bring your party in, friend Mark, then be welcomed, but I must take care of this filth before it contaminates our homeland."  
  
***  
  
Mark, Chrissie and Fred stood in shock as Kelly walked into Lorien, not resisting in the slightest. Damien stood speechless. The Elf didn't seem to care about him at all.  
  
Damien stepped forward and opened his mouth to announce who he was. Mark seemed to see what was going on and clamped his hand over Damien's mouth. " Don't be an arse. They'll be after you as soon as they realise who you are and they've dealt with Kelly."  
  
Mark turned to Chrissie and Fred. "It's like cops and cop killers. They get in such a tizzy."  
  
Mark looked back to Damien. "You haven't killed any elves have you?"  
  
Damien shook his head. "After I passed, I was on strict reconnaissance. As much as I like to pretend otherwise, I haven't actually killed anyone."  
  
"Well they probably won't kill a fledgling, but I wouldn't advertise my identity if I were you. If we are to save her, as much as I try to think otherwise, we will need your help."  
  
Damien grunted at the word fledgling, but let it go.  
  
Mark grabbed his horse's bridle and began leading it into Lothlorien, noticing the others following.  
  
"I know where they will take her."  
  
***  
  
It surprised even Damien how integrated Mark seemed into the Elven community. Every Elf they passed would greet him or stand to speak to him for a few moments. Every Elf knew his name and welcomed him home.  
  
Slowly they made their way into the centre of Caras Galadorn. Mark told them as a rule the Elves did not keep prisoners, so they would just choose one of the more secure spare rooms to keep her in. Conveniently, Mark knew where every one was, but the one with Kelly in would be the one with the most guards outside.  
  
Luckily the Elf on guard at the moment did not seem too worried about letting visitors talk to her.  
  
"Lady Galadriel has declared that even filth like her deserves to be fairly treated and so she shall go before the Council tomorrow at noon." He answered, in reply to Mark's asking of her.  
  
"Who will be there?" Mark asked a little bit too quickly.  
  
"Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn of course. Usually Lord Elrond would be present, but since his sons Elohir and Elladan are already here on other business, they have agreed to represent him. Lord Thranduil is also still in Rivendell, but has made it clear he no longer concerns himself with things in Middle Earth as he plans to leave it soon.  
  
Guards will watch over her in front of the Council, but anyone in Lothlorien is free to speak in that time if they deem it necessary. Personally I don't see the point what with her confessing and wanting to die and all, but we will continue to follow Lady Galadriel's wishes. I suppose even *they* have a conscience after all."  
  
Fred frowned when he said 'wanting to die and all', it was hard to imagine Kelly unhappy, let alone suicidal. Sometimes she was mad, crazy, or angry, but always she seemed reasonably happy. Always.  
  
"May we speak to her?" Mark asked quietly.  
  
The guard looked suspiciously at their party for a moment. "Since I know your honour I will agree, but not for long. You know our ways and so know the futility of trying anything stupid." He looked hard at Damien.  
  
Damien tried to smile innocently, but being unpractised at that kind of thing, failed miserably.  
  
The guard opened the door and ushered them in. They stood cramped in the doorway as they looked around.   
  
The room was large to their eyes for a prison cell, also having a table, chair and bed. A tray of food sat on the table, untouched. Kelly sat in the windowsill, not seeming to care that it was many hundreds of feet to the ground below. There was no need for bars on the window, as anyone who would jump from that height was just plain stupid.  
  
She sat balanced on it, her knees drawn up to her chest, her head resting slightly on the wall behind her. She looked stable, but also like at any moment she might fall.  
  
She stared out of the window, not even acknowledging their presence or looking to see who it was that come in. Damien felt like running over and shaking her, but dismissed it as he realised it may well send her toppling out of that window.  
  
Damien approached slowly, seeing the hesitation in the others eyes.  
  
"Kelly? Are you alright? Did they hurt you at all?" He said quietly as he tried to move silently towards her. He noticed even the scratch Haldir put on her neck had had some kind of ointment rubbed into it.  
  
She never even turned away from what she was looking at as she spoke. "They are Elves, they wrote the book on morality."  
  
"When you said surrender Kelly, I didn't know you meant this. I mean I thought it was going to be a sword through the chest and be done with. Not that I'm unhappy you're still alive though..." Damien realised he was babbling and moved onto easier topics.  
  
He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't you even want anything to eat? Your appetite is usually the size of three grown men."  
  
Damien thought he saw a flicker of a smile cross her lips. "I see no point in plumping up the turkey before Thanksgiving." She answered, still not turning around.  
  
Damien was puzzled. He looked back at Chrissie and Fred. Fred mouthed, "She's not hungry."  
  
Shrugging, he pulled up the chair and sat next to her. "Won't you even look at me? Look to see your friends? I mean they came all this way to see you."  
  
Kelly seemed to pause, considering. She turned and looked him, careful that only he could see what was in her eyes, but even then it was only for a moment.  
  
There was nothing there, it was if everything that been Kelly had been drained out of her. The spark of life had died from her eyes, the sense of adventure, the sense of life. There was just simply nothing there.  
  
Damien tried not to let his face contort as he looked at her. It tore him apart to see her like this, yet he could think of nothing to say that might comfort her. Everything she had said was true.  
  
"I will die with you then, Kelly, if you plan to do it..."  
  
"They will not kill you, Damien. Elves have long memories and all other deaths have been accounted for. They have no concerns for the trials of humans, so do even bother trying to pretend you're killed many men, you never were a good liar." Kelly interrupted him, cutting off any further arguments.  
  
"I already know a way to escape, but I think you know I will not do it. I chose this place, this place of such beauty to be the place I die and also for my death to serve a purpose." She continued in the same monotonous, almost robotic voice as before.  
  
Kelly sighed and leaned back slightly, almost giving Fred heart failure, as she seemed to be more than halfway out of the window now.  
  
Chrissie stepped forward, puzzlement showing on her face. What possible purpose could Kelly's death achieve? She racked her brain for anything that might bring her out of an almost catatonic state.   
  
"If you die, Kelly. They win. Don't you remember playing chess? You always used to fight right to the end, never even dreaming of surrender. Those people that gave you those scars, they win if you die."  
  
"Then I concede. It has been a long dance this round and I tire. If she will have me then I'll go to her with open arms." Kelly breathed, focusing still on something out of the window.  
  
Chrissie and Fred looked confused again. Damien spoke. "She's talking about Death, the Lady Death."  
  
Chrissie gasped and heard Fred and Mark do the same.  
  
"Kelly, why did you keep my ruby dagger? In fact, how did you get in back? When you said you'd dealt with Faramir, you didn't kill him did you? I mean, we talked about this and decided Faramir couldn't be killed, for Frodo's sake."  
  
Kelly breathed out slowly, watching as the wind rustled the leaves high above the ground, creating patterns of sunlight on the ground. Why hadn't she given Fred back the dagger? Nothing seemed to come to mind particulary, it was just she hadn't gotten around to it.   
  
First it had been the episode at Cair Andras, then Duin-Shiel's death. The longer she left it, the more she would have had to explain. Now the truth was out and she had nowhere to hide.  
  
"I didn't kill Faramir." She continued defensively, almost whispering.  
  
Fred frowned and stepped forward. Kelly was not going to die until she got some answers, no matter what she had in mind for herself. Speaking to Mark she asked, "When that guard said 'anyone' could speak at the hearing, does that include foreign refugees?"  
  
Mark smiled. "Yes, I believe it does."  
  
Fred turned her attention to Kelly. "You may not like it Kelly, but we are going to fight for you this time, whether you like it or not. You have never let us give up before and we are not about to let you now. We'll see you tomorrow."  
  
Fred and Chrissie left the room, shortly followed by Mark. Damien stood up slowly, taking her hand and wishing it didn't feel so cold. He kissed it lightly.   
  
She never looked up as he shut the door behind him, but unconsciously moved that hand against her chest and cuddled it close.  
  
***  
  
Kelly was still sat on that windowsill, in exactly the same position when Lady Galadriel entered the room at dusk. She had convinced her guards that she would not need them and reluctantly they had left.  
  
"Kelly, this is not the time or the place for you to lose faith." A soft musical voice whispered.  
  
Kelly didn't look up at her entrance, nor acknowledge her presence.   
  
Galadriel glided into the room, noticing a second tray had joined the first on the table, but again it was untouched.  
  
Galadriel sighed. "You have sacrificed so much Kelly, why are you giving up now? Do not let everything you've been through be in vain."  
  
"If I was not here, none of this would have happened. It is my fault that all these people have died and I deserve whatever punishment you give me tomorrow. It is my fault they are stuck here." Kelly said desolately.  
  
"Kelly, why did you not kill Duin-Shiel immediately after he killed Karth? I think you could have, had you wanted to."  
  
Kelly paused, she had expected the whole morality thing, the 'you shouldn't give up' speech, but this surprised her. Obviously Galadriel saw more in that bird bath than she let on.  
  
"I killed him though, in Chrissie's mind if no one else. She knows I lusted after his blood and Damien taunted her about it at Cair Andras. It doesn't matter whether I killed him to me, but to her it does. And I can't face that kind of grievance anymore."  
  
"Why did you not let your friends die then at Cair Andras? Why not let them die at Minas Tirith, they were not your responsibility. You could have saved the Fellowship without them. Why not leave them after they discovered Duin-Shiel, run off and enjoy your life as you'd planned."  
  
Kelly tried to harden the core within her. "I couldn't just abandon them."  
  
Galadriel smiled. "What, like you're doing now?"  
  
She was trying to make her emotional, Kelly thought. Trying to make her confront what she was running from. And on some small level, it was working.  
  
"Why didn't you let Damien die? He tortured you in Edoras, let you face all your troubles alone then tried to kill your friends at Cair Andras. Why didn't you just kill him, I'm sure many people would argue that he deserved it. If you had told Chrissie and Fred he'd killed Duin-Shiel, they would have believed you, might have even accepted you once again as you so long to be. He would have taken the fall for you."  
  
Kelly put her hands over her ears, trying to block out Galadriel's words. This was not what she wanted to hear, not now, not knowing what would happen to her tomorrow.  
  
"I saw you knock Laneth unconscious, saw you look guiltily back at him as Karth drove you onwards. It was three days before the Elves found his body, a lot can happen in that time."  
  
Kelly cringed. "I killed him. If I hadn't knocked him out, he never would have died. He could have survived if I hadn't been there." She whispered out, just wanting Galadriel to leave her in peace.  
  
"Why didn't you just slit his throat to begin with then?"  
  
Kelly swung her legs completely out of the window, not even holding onto the sides any longer. She felt the wind blow across her face and wished it would blow away her feelings. She could jump from this window, feel the wind tossing and turning her, finally feel like she was flying, soaring high above the trees. It might be worth it, what would happen when she reached the ground if she could but spend several seconds in heaven.  
  
Galadriel backed away slightly, sensing the thoughts that went through Kelly's mind. She didn't want to tip her over the edge, in more ways than one.  
  
"Everyone faces dark times in their life Kelly, and you seem to have faced more than your share already. But I do not think you have thought this through. I heard your friends say they'll fight for you, but do they understand what that means? If the worst comes to the worst, could you let them do that? Let one of them die for you?"  
  
Kelly squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the night wind rush up at her. Why couldn't Galadriel just leave her alone? She was sure there would be something interesting to watch in that mirror of hers and it would be more entertaining than giving her the morality speech. Suddenly, that cool night air was far more appealing than the stuffy wooden room behind her.  
  
  
  
Galadriel turned and left the room, satisfied she'd done what she could. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie: Yeah probably. I didn't think you'd like Damien, but then again that's to be expected. But you better get used to him though, cos he's not going anywhere...  
  
Tbiris: Great! Glad you like it.  
  
Tbiris: Well the understanding is there more than it was before, but as you'll tell from this chapter and the next, there is a lot they don't understand about Kelly and probably never will. But they're trying now and that's good.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: After your review I have actually been trying to think up ways to resurrect Duin-Shiel but I just can't see to think up anything plausible, without resorting to 'magic miracle cure' as it was. Sorry, I really did kill him well!! 


	16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN : TRIAL

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - TRIAL  
  
Kelly woke up from bed and stretched. She'd decided to get off that window before she fell off through exhaustion. Although she'd considered it in a moment of darkness, she wasn't that suicidal yet.  
  
Her stomach growled and she eyed the contents of the tray longingly. It looked like soup or broth, although not surprisingly, there was no cutlery. Looking out the window again and seeing it could only be just past dawn, she cursed at the time before noon.  
  
She eyed the chair in front of her, looking mostly at the legs. The way they curved at the bottom was almost like the neck of a spoon. A smile on her face, she placed the chair on it's side and snapped off one of the legs. The guards would just love to see her now with a sharp chair leg in her hand, it might just give them that excuse to kill her they'd been looking for.  
  
Regaining her position on the windowsill, she began using the rough wooden corners of the sill to sand down the chair leg. She sat for several hours in the sun, enjoying the simple work of sanding down the wood to make a spoon. It was by no means perfect, or very good, but Kelly had always been a practical person and as long as it completed it's function, she was happy.  
  
She propped the chair up against the wall, hoping no one would notice it's missing back leg. She allowed herself one spoonful of the broth and a swirl of water. When she checked, it was now near midday.  
  
She glanced at the bed sheet and momentarily imagined herself knotting it into a canopy, just enough for her to glide to the ground without breaking her neck. Sure she'd have bruises, but she'd survive. She sat back at the windowsill and looked outside once again. She had come here for a reason she told herself, it was no good getting emotional over it now.  
  
She hated the way Galadriel had made her feel last night, how vulnerable she'd felt. She heard the door open and instantly knew it was Damien without even turning around. No one else had heavy footsteps like his.  
  
He paused and looked around. "I see you ate something, well that's good. What did the chair do to you?"  
  
She smiled, half glad he couldn't see her face. She tried to remain cold and composed once more. "I needed a spoon."  
  
He looked on the table and saw the crude wooden spoon she'd made. She heard him drop it and felt him pull her from the windowsill. She offered no resistance as she watched the Elves begin to gather on the forest floor, pulling together chairs as such like. It was nearly time.  
  
Damien followed her glance. "You don't have to do this Kelly, I know you have some way you could escape."  
  
"I killed Laneth, I deserve this."  
  
He cut her off. "Yes I know, you've told me this a hundred times before. Why don't you just cut the crap and tell me what's really going on?"  
  
"I'm tired of fighting."  
  
He cut her off again. "Yeah I've heard that one as well. Do you know what I regret? Ever letting you talk me into this mad idea? There is no reason for you to be here, Kelly, none at all!  
  
Kelly listen to me. We don't have to fight anymore, in case you haven't noticed, we won. We destroyed the sect and saved the Fellowship, wait scrub that; YOU saved the Fellowship. You did what needed to be done without hesitation or thought for yourself and I like that. I'm proud of you. What did you think made me come after you?"  
  
Kelly sagged a little and sat down on the bed. "Don't do this to me Damien, not now. I have less than a hour to live and all you're doing is making this harder for me."  
  
"Don't do it then. I know Galadriel came to see you last night and I know that it changed you, whatever it was she said. Yesterday you were empty, emotionless and cold. Today you made a spoon."  
  
Kelly smiled slightly. "You should go now, they'll be here soon."  
  
Damien paused then stood up and walked out, slamming the door in frustration.  
  
***  
  
Kelly sat, twitching slightly in impatience as the Elves filed in. Her hands were bound once again in Elven rope, but it didn't really matter anymore. All of the Elves looked at her with disgust, except some which seemed to have a morbid curiosity about her. She held her head high and looked straight ahead.  
  
Galadriel rose, followed quickly by Celeborn, Elladan and Elohir.  
  
"You come before us Kelly, accused of killing Laneth of Lorien, a messenger. Did you or did you not kill him?"  
  
Kelly gulped. She knew what Galadriel wanted her to say and she knew what the truth was.  
  
"I did, in cold blood. He didn't even see me coming." She added for emphasis, hoping it might be over sooner.  
  
Then she noticed four faces that did not seem to fit within the Elves gathered here. They pulled down their cloaks and she groaned. She hoped they didn't do anything stupid.  
  
"Is it true that you surrendered yourself on our southern borders? Came here looking for us and gave up without any resistance?"  
  
Kelly nodded. Some of the Elves started to look a bit puzzled.  
  
"Why is that?" Galadriel asked softly.  
  
Damn her, Kelly thought. She glanced back and saw the guardsman raise his eyebrows at her. If she didn't answer, he was going to do something to make her talk, there was no doubt about that.  
  
She took a deep breath. "Because I knew what I had done and came here to accept whatever punishment you deem necessary."  
  
"You're a good deal more honourable than any sect member I've ever come across." Elladan said, eyeing her suspiciously.  
  
"Tell me, how did you kill him?" Galadriel said, her musical voice seeming to echo around the forest.  
  
"I hit him on the back of the head with the hilt of my dagger." Kelly said, slowly realising too late just what game Galadriel was playing.  
  
"But he could have woken and sounded the alarm. Would it have not been wiser to just slit his throat? You are an assassin are you not, and they have no qualms against such things."  
  
"I did not want to kill someone who did not have to die." Kelly said, realising Galadriel was in complete control here and she really had no say in it at all.  
  
"So you did nothing to him except leave him unconscious."  
  
"No, but unconscious in the wild."  
  
The guard silenced her by nudging his sword in the back of ribs, unfortunately right in the place where Faramir had stabbed her. She felt blood seep through the extra bandage she'd put on several nights ago. Self- consciously, she touched the back of her jacket, just as surprise as everyone else when her hand came away bloodied.  
  
Galadriel called for a healer, who came warily, thinking perhaps Kelly might stab her in the back when she wasn't looking. Kelly lifted her shirt slightly and winced as the healer unravelled the many bandages. Every time it had bled, she'd just put another bandage on top, thinking she'd deal with it later.  
  
Each bandage was blood stained, some covered in dirt and grass stains, some still soaked with dirty river water. One was charred slightly.  
  
Kelly felt the eyes of everyone on her. "Nothing is the matter with my tongue mi'lady, if you would care to continue." She would not show weakness now, not in front of *them*.  
  
Galadriel looked at the wound as the healer pried out the old broken stitches. "How do you get that wound?"  
  
Kelly sighed. That stupid guard. "Faramir of Gondor gave it to me."  
  
Several Elves turned to whisper to each other. Faramir was known to them, known for his honour and bravery in battle.  
  
"And why was that then?" She continued.  
  
"I went to Minas Tirith and found both my friends captured by Faramir and heard that he had begun torturing them. Like the fool I am, I broke straight into the Steward's House and confronted him, challenging him to a duel for their lives. He's too much of a gambler for his own good."  
  
Kelly twinged slightly as the healer planted the first stitch in her back, but tried not to let it show too much. At a nod from Galadriel, she continued.  
  
"I beat him."  
  
There were several gasps from around the Elves.  
  
"Did you kill him? You had every right to I believe, Gondor being the place it is."  
  
"No. Chrissie and Fred reminded me moments before that he had an important.important business to attend to that could affect the fate of Middle Earth if he did not complete it. I walked away to collect my sword and he stabbed me in the back. Literally."  
  
Kelly scowled at the healer as she applied some burning cream to her wound, but she ensured that she did not flinch.  
  
"But is it also true that you visited him several nights later to ensure that his experiences with you did not change the way he completed this 'business' as you call it. He also apologized to you, and I believe you accepted."  
  
"I did. It was an impulsive action he did and he later regretted it. He'd thought he'd killed me and the only way for him to move on with his life was for me to forgive him." Kelly breathed, silently cursing Galadriel and her bird bath.  
  
She looked quickly to see Fred and Chrissie rapidly discussing something. She wondered what Fred thought of her answer, now that she had it.  
  
"So after pretending to be a part of the sect again to save your friends, you then deceived them into coming to Cair Andras, where you managed to kill seventeen of them in one swoop. You almost sacrificed yourself and your friends to save Middle Earth, once again. I believe there are few Elves still among us who could say they have killed seventeen sect members, let alone in one day."  
  
She shared a glance with the other members of the Council.  
  
"Haldir." He stepped forward from the row of guards eyeing Kelly like a hawk. "How many Uruk-Hai, goblins and servants of the Dark One did you encounter in the previous two days before finding Laneth's body."  
  
Haldir paused. "About a hundred or so, mi'lady."  
  
"And would you describe the condition in which you found Laneth's body please."  
  
Haldir grimaced. He had hoped never to relive that memory. "It was as if it had been torn apart by animals. There were.pieces as far away from the main corpse as hundred paces or so. We counted over forty stabs wounds on the main corpse."  
  
The Elves gasped in horror, and even Kelly looked surprised.  
  
"So Haldir, under your vast experience in these matters, who did you first think had killed Laneth?"  
  
"A pack of wargs, orcs with them."  
  
"So why did you think it was Kelly?" Galadriel raised an eyebrow.  
  
"We caught glimpses of two assassins fleeing north and we presumed they were running from us. That decided their guilt for us, since those.things.have been known to play with their victims. We share no kinship with them."  
  
Silence filled the area as Haldir stepped back. Galadriel was smiling to herself and even the other members of the council were looking pleasantly surprised.  
  
Chrissie stood up, quickly followed by Mark, Damien and Fred.  
  
"We were told that anyone could speak if they wished, Lady Galadriel and we wish to."  
  
Kelly put her head in her hands. Why did they have to get involved, this had all been so simple in her mind before. When she saw the smile of a fellow conspirator between Galadriel and her friends, she very nearly swore. They'd planned this all along, the little beasts!  
  
Damien stepped towards her and she scowled at him. "I will not let you die for me Damien, or any of the others. If that is what you are thinking, even though I am apparently restrained, do not think I will allow it to happen." She hissed out, hoping the Elven hearing was not as sharp as it's reputation. By the expression of several Elves, she guessed it was.  
  
Damien smiled as Chrissie, Fred and Mark stood together with him. "I do not think that will be necessary." He said, some kind of mischievous grin plastered to his face. It looked incredibly strange to see him shoulder to shoulder with her friends.  
  
"Roll up your sleeves Kelly, it is time for them to see."  
  
Kelly flinched as the healer tightened up the bandage and stepped away, leaving her alone. If looks could kill, Damien would be long dead by now. However, the Elves definitely seemed to want to know what was going on now.  
  
Kelly held up her bound hands and smiled sarcastically at him.  
  
Damien moved over to her and rolled her sleeves up, letting everyone see the scars that twisted around her arms.  
  
She could feel their gaze on her, their sorrow and sympathy. She tried to block it out, she didn't want their emotions, not this close to death.  
  
"Tell them, Kelly. It is time for them to know."  
  
Kelly visibly withered. If there was one thing she did not want to say in front of the Elves, it was that.  
  
"No." She whispered. He shook her slightly, still holding onto her after rolling up her sleeves.  
  
"Tell them."  
  
Kelly looked up at him, saw the fire and determination in his eyes.  
  
She took a deep breath. "To rule out the weak candidates, every person joining the sect is tortured and streamed."  
  
Galadriel raised an eyebrow, even she did not know that.  
  
Damien whispered a silent apology to her as he began to unbutton her jacket. He'd noticed how she always wore high necked cloaks and jackets since she'd arrived here and apparently so had Chrissie and Fred.  
  
Slipping her jacket over her head, she sat almost shivering in rage. Damien put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. Although her shirt still decently covered her, the low neckline and lack of sleeves showed what he wanted them to see. A tangle of scars and burns tracked down her neck and arms, some a foot or more long.  
  
He could feel the shame coming off her in waves and she watched him with murderous eyes. It was time for him to let them know just what had happened to her.  
  
"And who conducted your streaming, Kelly? Who tortured you unmercifully during the day then comforted you during the night? Who used you to get a better mission, used your pain and suffering to get ahead in the game? Who tracked you through the night and watched you nearly kill yourself for your friends, but didn't raise a hand to help you?"  
  
Kelly looked up, the first signs of tears in her eyes. In that moment he realised she'd always known yet had never said. Again it made him wonder why she'd done the things she had. "You did." She said quietly, hoping no one would hear.  
  
"But when you had the chance to kill me, you didn't, you couldn't. Why?"  
  
A tear rolled down Kelly's face. "Because I knew. When I looked into your eyes you didn't mean to do it. You were forced into doing it. You never wanted to hurt me and you would have been killed had you not."  
  
Damien let her go and turned to face the Elves. "Is this really someone who deserves to die? She came here because she was ashamed of doing the right thing, because everyone she knew had rejected her for being who she always has been. It is a shame Laneth died, but it was not her fault. She did not even kill him for pity's sake."  
  
Damien paused as Chrissie and Fred stepped forward next to him.  
  
"Kelly saved our lives when she didn't have to, when it would have made more sense not to. She's fought off orcs and assassins alike, trying to correct that one mistake she made. Some people would have just given up, but Kelly was determined to correct her mistake, whatever the cost. And she did." Fred said triumphantly.  
  
"She had a chance to kill Duin-Shiel, she even swore that someday she would hunt him down and kill him because he killed her best friend in front of her eyes. But when she realised what he meant to me, she didn't. She left, isolating herself so she had no chance to hurt him again. I'll never forget that." Chrissie said, smiling at the thought of Duin-Shiel. "When he died." She paused, wiping a stray tear from her face. ".she searched out his body herself, not letting anyone else know. She buried him too, not wanting me to see what remained of him. She carried that burden for me."  
  
Mark paused. "From the time I met up with her, I was nothing but a burden to her, always picking at her, always questioning her. Yet she pulled me out of that fire too."  
  
Lady Galadriel looked slowly at Elladan, Elohir and Celeborn. She knew their minds, knew what their decision would be. There was really no other choice for them, despite what everyone had said today.  
  
It was the only choice they had and the only punishment they could give.  
  
Elladan stood up. "Have you any last requests before the judgement?" He asked Kelly.  
  
Kelly looked up at him. "Make it quick."  
  
***  
  
Okay I'm in a bit of pickle as which ending of the story to upload so I'll go with the reviewers. Do you want Kelly to live or die?  
  
Do you think she deserves it after everyone she's killed, every crime that she's commited. Does she deserve their pity?  
  
Or do you think she's redeemed herself enough to warrant forgiveness.  
  
Please tell me!!  
  
Forest Elfin 


	17. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN : PARTING

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - PARTING  
  
Kelly steeled her heart, awaiting their judgement. Elladan, Elohir, Celeborn and Galadriel had left to confer and had so far been away only a few minutes.  
  
She glanced at Damien. He smiled and gave her a cocky wink. Trust him to be thinking about things like that at a time like this.  
  
Chrissie sat twirling her fingers around a few blades of grass. She even swore when the blades broke, bringing a smile to Kelly's face. Chrissie wasn't usually one for swearing.  
  
Fred seemed to be thinking about something, looking off into the distance. She looked.thoughtful and kinda sad.  
  
Mark walked around in small circles, continuing to repeat something to himself that she couldn't quite understand. He had seen this scene before in Galadriel's mirror, but he didn't want it to end the same way. There must be some other way to change it, he murmured to himself.  
  
They were by no means perfect, but they were her friends.  
  
Galadriel walked back into their midst, her shining presence drawing the eyes of all present. Celeborn followed, with Elladan and Elohir last.  
  
"We do not hold council of this kind often and I think we are better for it. Yet, much has changed since we last held council. Many things were said this day that will continue to change the way people think and feel for many years to come. And today is the first day of that change."  
  
She focused her glance on Kelly.  
  
/If you had only told the truth to begin with, things would have been easier for you if all you wanted to do was clear your name. You did not even have to come here, I am sure you could have eluded us for your natural life./ Galadriel said silently in Kelly's mind.  
  
Kelly glared at her and mumbled some foul curse. Somehow, she was just beginning to realise what Galadriel had been planning all along.  
  
"You did not kill Laneth of Lorien. You may have hurt him yes, but your intentions were true. You are welcomed into Lothlorien with the greetings of the Elves and we hope this can start to bridge the rift between your people and ours."  
  
Kelly smiled and stood up, easily remembering the way out of the ropes that bound her. Elven rope may be strong, but assassins had been bound by it for thousands of years and had figured out it's magic many years ago. Everything had a weakness, even her so it would seem.  
  
Elladan stepped forward as all the Elves seemed to drift away into their different conversations. You never would have guessed they'd been trying someone for murder only minutes ago.  
  
"How did you do that? Only the Elves are supposed to know it's magic." He asked.  
  
Kelly smiled again. "Long have I studied your ways, even before I was initiated. Yet, the sect has known for some centuries the way out of your ropes."  
  
Elladan laughed nervously, already thinking about how to improve them. "So why did you not break out before?"  
  
"I have not found a trick around arrows yet." Kelly said simply.  
  
An Elf came towards her with a silver platter, her weapons neatly presented on it. Grinning, she thanked the Elf and smiled at how natural it felt to have her own sword back in her hands. Replacing Karth's knife back in her boot, she tucked the other two daggers in her cloak. She turned around to see her friends anxiously waiting for her and excused herself from Elladan's presence, noticing his surprise again as she spoke in Elvish.  
  
A smile came to his face as he watched her leave. She was a warrior for the men of Middle Earth, even though by what Galadriel has said, she bore them no allegiance. She had fought orcs and the sect alike, killing more in a month than most Elves had in their lives.  
  
Elohir watched her go and turned to his brother. "I know what you are thinking brother and I advise you to stop right there."  
  
Elladan blushed. "Am I really that transparent?"  
  
Elohir nodded and walked off to join the other High Elves. Elladan stood blushing for a few moments before he ran to catch them.  
  
***  
  
Kelly stood surrounded by her friends, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, or quite possibly both. She felt slightly self-conscious and vulnerable knowing that they knew some of her thoughts and feelings. But just one look at their faces said that her feelings were quite safe.  
  
One minute they were all just looking at each, the next they all seemed to be having one big group hug. Kelly poked Chrissie in the ribs when Chrissie's foot landed in her stomach.  
  
"Okay, that's enough. Let's not get too cosy." They all stood back suddenly feeling very self-conscious about their hasty outburst.  
  
"I was saving these for a special occasion and I think today counts."  
  
Kelly slipped two daggers from her cloak and handed one to Chrissie and the other to Fred. Fred's eyes gleamed at the sight of her jewelled dagger and even Chrissie seemed appreciative. When she handed Mark one of the folding knives of the sect, he smiled. He'd always liked mechanical things and the way it folded open at the flick of a wrist had always fascinated him.  
  
Damien stood off to one side, leaning against a tree. "Do I get a present too?"  
  
Kelly turned and laughed, walking towards him very slowly. She held her hands up to him. "You are too good to me, Damien but I know how to resolve that. It seems I have been a very, very bad girl." Damien's eyes almost popped out of his head and tried to banish the blush rising in his face.  
  
"But my hands aren't tied anymore you see." She continued, watching Damien raising an eyebrow in sarcastic surprise. "Do you know what I can do with those hands?" She asked, holding her face in an innocent smile.  
  
Damien nearly exploded when she stopped so close to him that he could feel her breath on him and ran her hand down his chest. "I have no idea." He said quietly, his voice barely holding calm.  
  
Kelly turned and looked back to her stunned friends. "I'll see you later at the party."  
  
Fred looked at Chrissie who turned and looked at Mark. "What party? Who said anything about a party?"  
  
Kelly laughed as she began walking away with Damien. "Oh trust me there's going to be a party tonight. I don't think you'll need any dresses though girls."  
  
She could practically feel Chrissie's frown on her back. She turned quickly and waved. When she was almost out of sight, but not quite, she reached down and found Damien's hand, giving it a squeeze.  
  
"So, do you want to know what I can do with these hands Damien."  
  
Chrissie turned back to Fred and Mark, seeing that Kelly was out of sight now. She was still a little shocked over Kelly's forwardness.  
  
"We saved the world. I say we party." Chrissie walked off in the direction where she smelt food.  
  
"Was that a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" Fred asked, catching up.  
  
"Yeah, but it's true though." Chrissie paused a moment in thought.  
  
Fred stopped and considered it. "I guess it is."  
  
Mark smiled. If they were thinking about Buffy already, things definitely were back to normal.  
  
***  
  
Chrissie was watching some of the Elven dancing doubtfully, when Kelly reappeared behind her. She didn't think she would ever get used to her sudden appearances. Chrissie turned around to face her.  
  
"Kelly is something wrong? What did you do, fight off an entire legion of orcs? Your hair and clothes."  
  
Chrissie fell silent as she realised just what Kelly had been doing. "You have bruises." She said observantly, trying to make conversation.  
  
Kelly nodded and looked down at the green bruise slowly spreading up her arm. "Yeah. I think it was a tree. It got in the way."  
  
Chrissie looked a tad freaked out. "Oh, okay."  
  
Chrissie wasn't sure if she trusted Damien, or even liked him. But as Kelly hadn't killed Duin-Shiel when she'd had the chance, temporarily she would let their relationship be.  
  
The Elves started doing some dance moves that seriously should be censored. Chrissie and Kelly looked at each other. They really did not want to see Elves, the high people of morality and goodness, doing that.  
  
"We could find Fred." Kelly paused as Chrissie gestured to a dark corner on the far side of the clearing. She could just about see Emma and some blonde Elf.  
  
Kelly frowned. She didn't really want to be seeing that either.  
  
"Where's Damien?" Chrissie asked lightly.  
  
Kelly smiled and pointed back in the direction she'd come. "Sleeping. I don't believe he ever did very well in the endurance trials." She really was a hypocrite, but never mind.  
  
Chrissie scowled.  
  
Kelly noticed her discomfort and smiled again. She noticed Galadriel almost floating towards them.  
  
"I would speak with you Kelly, Chrissie. Would you please follow me?"  
  
"Shall I go and get Fred and Mark?" Chrissie asked.  
  
Galadriel glanced at where Fred was. "No, I believe you can pass on whatever information I give to you. She seems to be otherwise involved at the moment."  
  
Chrissie blushed and Kelly had to cough to cover her laugh.  
  
Galadriel swept away and Kelly and Chrissie had to almost run to keep up. They found themselves in what looked like a library, with Mark in the middle surrounded by books.  
  
He looked up guiltily. "I was hoping I might find someway of getting home."  
  
Galadriel's smile softened. "I would not worry about that Mark."  
  
The look on his face told everyone he was panicking.  
  
"Do not worry, Mark. I came here to tell you that we have found a way for you to get home. All of you."  
  
Kelly started clapping, but Chrissie just put her hands to her mouth.  
  
"Oh my God!" Chrissie said. "How? When?"  
  
"You have to go tomorrow. It is in the alignment of the stars and the only time is dawn tomorrow. Or you must wait a further month here." Galadriel said calmly. "All is prepared."  
  
Kelly slumped down to the floor. So much was drawing her home, yet so much holding her back. She looked up to see Galadriel looking at her with that knowing glance.  
  
Chrissie seemed to be thinking much the same thing. Haldir had pulled her aside quietly and said that Duin-Shiel was a great person and she should be grateful for the time she had with him.  
  
There was nothing left holding Chrissie here and she doubted there was anything left for Fred, except for a few random Elves she'd become *acquainted* with. Mark seemed eager as well.  
  
"I am ready to go home." Chrissie looked up to Galadriel and she nodded. Kelly disappeared behind them.  
  
***  
  
Kelly sat at the top of one of the mallorn trees, looking out across Middle Earth. She could stay here and be happy for the rest of her life, with the Elves, with the soldiers, with Damien. She could fight in Helm's Deep as she'd always dreamed, fight orcs all her life and live happily ever after.  
  
But then there was home.the real home where there were no orcs, no fighting. The place where her parents were, her school and other life.  
  
She rested her head on her knees as she remembered what had happened back there. She was the only one with issues and she could tell she was the only who had heard Galadriel's words.  
  
"Four came and four can leave." She had said, to her mind only. That had been what had made Kelly leave.  
  
***  
  
Dawn found her watching the sun climb above the many trees, high above the ground. She didn't care that she was hundreds, maybe thousands of feet up, balanced on a small branch that moved with the breeze.  
  
She had decided.  
  
***  
  
Kelly found the others waiting near Galadriel's mirror, their few belongings strapped to themselves. They seemed almost surprised to see her. She had already spoken to Damien and he agreed with her. She didn't belong here, she belonged back home.  
  
A tear rolled down her face as she saw him come to see her off. She hadn't wanted him to, but then again, he'd never listened to her anyway.  
  
She held him close and whispered to him. "Whatever it takes and however long it takes, I will return. I have some business to take care of, people that deserve explanations, but my heart lies here."  
  
She gripped his hand, trying to emphasize her words. He smiled.  
  
"I'll be waiting." He said as he stepped back.  
  
Galadriel stepped forward and poured a black powder into the mirror. She handed a green vial to Kelly and took several steps back.  
  
"When you are ready." She said smoothly.  
  
Kelly gulped and took a last look at Damien. She looked at each of her friends in turn, making sure this was the decision they wanted. They all seemed eager, anticipating their return. Kelly sighed and unstopped the vial, pouring the contents into the waters.  
  
At first it began to steam, then bubble. The reaction became more violent and it began to spit.  
  
Fred raised her hand to Chrissie and she took it. Chrissie took Kelly's hand and Kelly took Mark's. They held hands together around the mirror and preyed to whatever Gods might hear them that they would arrive safely.  
  
Kelly's last image of Middle Earth was the smoke curling up around her, clouding her vision of Damien.  
  
Mark's was of Galadriel, seeming to glint in the noon sun.  
  
Fred's was of the mallorn trees, slowly being enveloped in smoke.  
  
Chrissie's was of someone with blonde hair running madly down the steps, shouting something she couldn't quite hear. He stopped and looked at her, just as the explosion rocked Middle Earth. 


	18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN : HOMECOMING

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - HOMECOMING  
  
Kelly brushed herself off and stood up, looking around her. It looked like some kind of nuclear crater had hit the area. Chrissie, Fred and Mark stood up as well, looking around. Chrissie seemed to have tears brimming in her eyes and be whispering something she couldn't quite hear. They seemed to be back in the school area, Kelly could recognise several of the houses that stood around. But there was no school.  
  
They walked over and looked at the masses of flowers, teddy bears and cards displayed. It covered the entire length of their school field and there were hundreds of pictures of themselves on missing posters taped onto them.  
  
Kelly gulped. They had been away nearly nine weeks.  
  
As someone came out of a house across the road and started screaming, she smiled. What must they look like, her with a sword and daggers and all of them dressed in Elven clothing.  
  
As people began running towards them, it seemed that Kelly was swept up by a tidal wave.  
  
*** One week later ***  
  
Kelly picked up the phone and dialled each of her friend's numbers in conference mode.  
  
"So have you been allowed out yet? It's been a goddam week already and I'm going mad. Even MT was better than this."  
  
There were several murmurs of agreement. After they'd been reunited with their parents, their protectiveness had seemed to go overboard.  
  
"I think I have more holes in me than a sponge." Chrissie said wearily.  
  
After they'd all cried amnesia, doctors had begun prodding them for different tests, scans and more tests, hoping to find some explanation. Drugs tests, CAT scans and who knew what else. Kelly didn't think there could be that much blood left in her.  
  
The doctor's official theory was that, due to Kelly's extensive scarring, they'd all been kidnapped and she'd been tortured. Apparently the others must have witnessed it and become traumatised and she must have mentally regressed it as well.  
  
"Are you going to school tomorrow?" Fred said. There was an immediate reply of three simultaneous yeses. To get out of the house would be wonderful.  
  
"Well I'll see you tomorrow. Whatever drugs they gave me, it's certainly making me tired all the time." Fred continued.  
  
They said their goodbyes and hung up their phones.  
  
***  
  
When Chrissie and Fred found Kelly the next day, she was bent over a microscope. To even find Kelly in a science lab was scary enough these days, let alone at a time when there wasn't actually a lesson. It almost seemed strange to see her without a sword at her hip.  
  
"What you doing, Kelly?" Fred asked slowly, not really knowing if she wanted to know.  
  
Kelly looked up and pushed up her lab specs. "The technology at this school is amazing. I had an idea, and I've been dying to try it out. Do you remember ages ago when we learnt about the polymerase chain reaction?"  
  
Chrissie frowned and Fred looked blank. "The artificial replication of DNA? Okay then. I still have a sample of that green stuff that brought us back and I thought perhaps if I could apply the same process, maybe I could replicate enough of the stuff."  
  
Fred cut her off. "Are you already thinking about going back, Kelly? It's only just over a week since you left."  
  
Kelly put her head in her hands. "There is nothing for me here, nothing. I'm caged again, Fred and it's killing me. You know how I was in MT and that was only four days. I've been locked in my own home for a week. My parents look at me like a crossword puzzle and the scientists can't stick enough holes in me. Everyone who sees me looks at me like I'm a ghost.  
  
Chrissie, you told us what you saw before you left. Can you honestly say you don't want to go back to see if it really is him? I mean I buried him, but you never know with those Elves and that immortality lark. Wait, don't start, let me talk for a while. Your Mum will be just fine without you and your Mum and Dad too, Fred. It's what you want that counts."  
  
Kelly typed a few keys on the computer next to her and watched as the tray next to her started to hum.  
  
"I'm leaving. There'll be enough of that stuff in about five minutes time. Are you coming?"  
  
Chrissie looked at Kelly like she'd just announced the sky was yellow. She had her education to do, her ambitions to become a psychologist. Nobody in Middle Earth even knew what psychology was. She'd mourned Duin-Shiel for over two weeks now, and although she felt she had a long way to go, she was finally getting over him. There were so many blonde Elves in Lothlorien and she didn't even know if it was really him. And if it was him, he was immortal; he could wait awhile.  
  
Fred thought for a moment. There were giant spiders in Middle Earth, and goblins. She couldn't even look at a normal sized spider here without screaming now and even the thought of going within a hundred miles of those things was terrifying. But she supposed the Elves were very good looking.  
  
Chrissie shook her head, closely followed by Fred.  
  
"What about Mark?" Chrissie asked.  
  
Kelly smiled. "Called him this morning. He's not interested."  
  
"Just how long have you been planning this Kelly?" Fred asked, a suspicious grin on her face.  
  
"Since about two hours after we got back. I have envelopes signed and sealed back at my place, I'm just waiting for this goo to hurry up and multiply."  
  
The computer beeped twice and Kelly quickly deleted all the files on this substance. She didn't want anyone stumbling across it once she was gone.  
  
Pouring the substance into two tubes, she handed one to Fred.  
  
"If you ever change your mind, just add water and stand well back. I think all that stuff about the stars being in alignment was rubbish. Well I hope it was anyway."  
  
Fred frowned, wondering if it was going to explode in her hand. "But what about the black." She began, remembering the black powder Galadriel had poured into the mirror before adding the green stuff.  
  
"Don't worry so much Fred. I chemically combined gunpowder with it, then replicated it. It should be safe enough, just don't shake it about too much."  
  
Fred cradled it in her hands, her face turning slightly white. She raised an eyebrow. "Kelly, where did you get the gunpowder?"  
  
"Oh, I ordered it off Ebay." Kelly didn't seem bothered.  
  
"But someone might trace where you ordered it from."  
  
Kelly smiled. "And trace it right back to Mr Winchif's new apartment with his secretary. I never liked him anyway." She winked.  
  
Fred was close to a scowl. After all they'd been through, she'd almost forgotten Kelly been a scientist by day and hacker by night before they'd left.  
  
Kelly shifted her position. "So I guess this is goodbye then. You know I hate sappy things don't you."  
  
Fred smiled. "You be careful, Kelly. You won't have us to bail you out anymore."  
  
Chrissie eyed the spare tube of stuff longingly. "If you happen to meet a particular Elf and he's still alive and well, will you tell him.tell him.to expect me when he least expects it."  
  
Kelly smiled at Chrissie's apparent randomness. "I will." She answered both of them.  
  
Pulling a box out from under the desk, she slipped on her black tunic and trousers, smoothing out her old assassin's garb with obvious pleasure. Putting a knife in her boot and sword by her side, she was ready to go.  
  
"I'd leave if I were you, I don't know how big this explosion is going to be and if I know my luck, it'll probably bring down much of the new school. You're not too attached to it yet are you?"  
  
Chrissie and Fred shook their heads, waving goodbye to Kelly as they left.  
  
They felt the tremors shake the ground by the time they'd left school property. Looking back, it seemed as if the entire science block had gone up in flames.  
  
Chrissie watched reprovingly. "Definitely not as good as last time."  
  
She glanced at a sign by the side of the road as they walked to the bus stop, clearly not wanting to hang around here any longer. Westwood was being rebuilt and was expecting to be finished within eight months.  
  
Fred watched the smoke rising from the building as she watched through the dirty window of the bus. Somehow, she had the strangest feeling that Kelly was not completely out of their lives yet, that she still had some more havoc to cause them. And she had another feeling, even stronger than the first, that some day Kelly was going to need them to bail her out of trouble again and they were going to need her too.  
  
***  
  
Kelly got up and brushed herself off, finding herself in the main room of a tavern. Unfortunately, Kelly had the worst luck for these kinds of things and also since she'd been a single traveller this time around, it apparently put off all forms of safety and alignment. Once again in the lion's den, she spied a window on the wall and jumped right through, not bothering with the door.  
  
She'd landed in the planning room for the resurrection of the sect. She'd been so naïve when she'd thought there were so few of them.  
  
Drawing her sword whilst running, she heard pursuit begin behind her. How they must hate her now, she thought, killing their brothers then having the cheek to drop in on them like that.  
  
Kelly jumped over a log and ducked under a low lying branch. Even if things looked dire now, at least they were back to normal. Soon she would find Damien and they would hunt orcs and foul things together.  
  
As for the Elf, she would deliver Chrissie's message if he truly still did survive. But after that, who knew? She may have completed her blood debt in a manner of speaking, but it didn't mean she couldn't still whoop his arse.  
  
Someone dropped down in front of her and she slashed wildly with her sword, almost severing his arm. Running on past him, she skidded to a halt as nineteen people in black garb lowered themselves from the trees around her, forming a tight circle around her. Nineteen against one, and her with only a sword and two knives. Bad odds indeed. She almost gave up hope, no one could hope to survive such a thing.  
  
Almost. Smiling as she threw a knife behind her, breaking the circle enough to begin hacking at the first few of them. Twisting and spinning, kicking and running, she saw them closing in around her. Jumping and grabbing one of the ropes they'd climbed down on, she pulled herself upwards onto one of the lower branches.  
  
Several of them followed her, but the odds were significantly better, despite the fact she now had to balance on a branch thinner than her leg. She'd never do anything like this back home, she thought as she kicked the first one down to his death. She almost wished she were back home, where it was safe and quiet.  
  
Smiling, she scrubbed that. There was no other place that could satisfy her heart and soul, no other place she'd rather be. She was home.  
  
***  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: You have to admit, Chrissie can be very intimidating sometimes. Hence the passing of the buck.  
  
Tbiris: Should be corrected now, thanks for the heads up!  
  
Freddie loves Frodo: I thought you would like that, fellow torturer. I think, in regards to the jewelled dagger, I have been more than generous.  
  
Chrissie: *gasps* what is going on with you? I think your results tension has pushed your common sense out the window.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Hah! I managed to leave a small small opening about blonde hair, so who knows? I'll leave it to your imagination.  
  
Chrissie: *gasps again* still mad? Well never mind, it's all good.  
  
Hobbit-Eyes: Yeah.sorry about the long wait I've had major problems with Fanfiction recently and been on holiday, go me! Hopefully this will satisfy your need.  
  
I'd just like to thank everyone that reviewed and a thousand apologies to anyone I've missed!!  
  
So it's all finished now, or is it? Fred is safe from the spiders; Chrissie is on her way to becoming a psychologist; Kelly is once again fighting for her life and Damien is waiting for her.  
  
I think this is a nice place to end it, despite my itchy fingers wanting to write another sequel. But I've already got a separate story on the tip of my tongue involving some certain group of friends, so watch this space!  
  
Forest Elfin 


End file.
